Terry Weible Murphy

I guess it was curiousity that attracted me to this book. I've seen stuff about OCD on television, showing people with rituals about touching things, not stepping on cracks, and the like. I hoped to learn what goes on inside these people, that leads them to take up such behaviours. I can say I got more than I bargained for with this book. Not only does the book explain the case of one man who developed OCD: how it came on, (gradually at first), what he was thinking, and why he felt the need to observe so many difficult and immensely time consuming behaviors. It also shows how the disease narrowed his life to the point where he became a reclude, living in a single room, and having minimal contact with members of his family. He was like a possessed person, controlled by self imposed rituals that made his life torture. Fortunately, he was helped by a doctor who specialized in OCD. Although none of the drug therapies they tried helped him, and he didn't respond to the behaviour modification therapies they tried to teach him, somehow he got to a point where he realized OCD was his enemy and he successfully fought back. As much as it's a story about OCD, it's just as much a story about the strength of the human spirit and its ability to overcome adversity.… (lisätietoja)

About: The story of Edward Zine, a man with very severe Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and his path to recovery. After his mother's death, Ed's OCD started manifesting itself, doing things in even numbers lead to doing every action a second time, but backwards, to "even things out." Soon,Ed ended up confined in his basement for years, dirty and surrounded by bags of feces and bottles of urine, his disease keeping him imprisoned. Dr. Michael Jenike, a psychiartist who specializes in OCD, paid Ed a visit and started him on the road to getting well.

Pros: Engaging and at times tragic story

Cons: The far-too-long subtitle is a bit inaccurate as Murphy admits that Dr. Jenike only "may have" provided the spark that motivated Ed to recover (as Ed pretty much did all his recovery himself). So the book should be titled Life in Rewind: The Story of a Young Courageous Man Who Persevered Over OCD. The relationship between the two men seems trumped up for literary purposes as the two did not see one another for over a year and only spoke a few times via phone after the house call. Murphy paints Jenike as some kind of super doctor who "answers 300 emails a day" from his patients and tells some patients to "pay what they want."There are a bunch of photos in the middle of the book, which I hate and would prefer them spread out over the book.… (lisätietoja)