The Man Who Couldn’t Stop ~ David Adam

Subtitled “OCD and the true story of a life lost in thought”, this is an absorbing account of OCD (obsessive- compulsive disorder) and related mental illnesses, told from the point of view of someone who suffers from OCD himself. Dr. David Adam is currently a writer and editor at the scientific journal Nature, so he brings a clear-headed understanding to his own condition and that of others who suffer similarly.

He quickly dispels the notion that it’s all about obsessive hand-washing or similar (he had to fight his publishers who wanted to put a bar of soap on the cover). Though such behaviour may be one symptom of OCD, it is only typical in a small number of cases.

Adam starts the book with the words “An Ethiopian schoolgirl called Bira once ate a wall of her house. She didn’t want to, but she found that to eat the wall was the only way to stop her thinking about it.”

Adam’s own obsession, from which he is, and will probably never be fully free, is a fear of being accidentally infected with HIV-AIDS. He became obsessed that the slightest scratch could somehow infect him: he scrapes his heel at a swimming pool and draws blood. Could someone else, someone with AIDS, have also scraped their heel there, perhaps only moments before? He uses a paper towel to blot up the dot of blood on his heel, only to begin worrying that someone with AIDS might have handled the towel before him, perhaps with a scratch on their finger… and on and on. Adam always knew that these thoughts were paranoid and absurd, but he couldn’t stop thinking such thoughts, nor stop himself carrying out obsessive rituals to try to protect himself.

Adam details how almost everyone has intrusive, unwanted thoughts popping into their heads throughout their everyday lives. Most of us can easily and quickly dismiss these thoughts. Those with OCD cannot. He describes many often-bizarre case studies, and shows how the condition has been recognised for many centuries, even if not given its modern name.

He covers the various treatments for OCD which have been tried over the years, and about the various treatments he himself has endured, the most effective finally being a form of cognitive behavioural therapy. He offers sympathy and a lot of good advice to others who suffer from unwanted thoughts of which they cannot rid themselves or control.

A really fascinating book about the oddities of the human brain.