David Adam

A fascinating read that explores the power of intrusive thoughts, how our brains can turn against us, and how obsessive compulsive disorder can affect an individual’s life

A Story of OCD

The Man Who Couldn't Stop

A Sunday Times Bestseller Have you ever had a strange urge to jump from a tall building, or steer your car into oncoming traffic? You are not alone. In this captivating fusion of science, history and personal memoir, writer David Adam explores the weird thoughts that exist within every mind, and how they drive millions of us towards obsessions and compulsions. David has suffered from OCD for twenty years, and The Man Who Couldn't Stop is his unflinchingly honest attempt to understand the condition and his experiences. What might lead an Ethiopian schoolgirl to eat a wall of her house, piece by piece; or a pair of brothers to die beneath an avalanche of household junk that they had compulsively hoarded? At what point does a harmless idea, a snowflake in a clear summer sky, become a blinding blizzard of unwanted thoughts? Drawing on the latest research on the brain, as well as historical accounts of patients and their treatments, this is a book that will challenge the way you think about what is normal, and what is mental illness. Told with fierce clarity, humour and urgent lyricism, this extraordinary book is both the haunting story of a personal nightmare, and a fascinating doorway into the darkest corners of our minds.

The Truth About OCD

Beau

The Man Who Couldn't Stop was an eye-opening experience. OCD is something I've aways wanted to learn about, at least to a greater depth to what I know of the constant-hand-washing mental deficiency portrayed in Hollywood films (which, of course, is so far from the reality of OCD it's almost embarrassing that I've even uttered the words 'a bit OCD' in a variety of contexts. They say ignorance is bliss.)

Adams, himself a long-term journeyman with OCD, writes about the history, 'causes', research, and rationale that man has directed towards OCD (and OCPD for that matter) which, combined, provides a great contextual overview of what the disorder is and how we came to acknowledge it. Additionally, fascinating real-world accounts of people who have endured the anguish of severe OCD are described with great depth and empathy, giving the reader a thorough understanding of the complexity and variety of forms in which OCD hijacks the mind.

If you're interested in mental dysfunction, or the psychological thought behind the numerous attempts at understanding and treating OCD specifically, then this book is for you.

Irene Alegre

One of the best books on OCD I've read so far. In the same vein of "The Noonday Demon" and "My Age of Anxiety", David Adam does here with OCD what Andrew Solomon and Scott Stossel did with depression and anxiety respectively.

The book combines the author's personal account of OCD with the anecdotes of other patients, serious cases documented throughout the history of psychiatry and the sorrows and tribulations of historical figures, while at the same time going over the way the disorder has been understood over the last two centuries and what the latest research is able to shed light upon (spoiler alert: not much).

It's an interesting book, well-researched and well written, that will hopefully help those who are unfamiliar with the disorder understand it better and those who are - unfortunately - too familiar with the disorder feel hopeful that some progress is being made, that things are better now than they were only 20 years ago, and that they are - maybe more important than anything else - not alone.

Alex

Very interesing book about OCD - if you want to know more about it, I really recommend this book! Reading it, I felt like I really understood the problem for the first time.

The Man Who Couldn't Stop A Story of OCD

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