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The Boy Who Couldn't Stop Washing: The Experience and Treatment of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
The book that told millions their rituals had a name. 🫧
Who it's for
For many people this was the first book that showed their secret rituals had a name and that others lived with the same thing.
Isolated, confused→Understood, hopeful
Feelings it meets
What it is
A landmark, plain-language book by a leading child psychiatrist built around case stories of people whose lives became consumed by washing, checking, counting and doubting. It explains how obsessive-compulsive problems show up, how they affect families, and the behavioural and medical treatments that were transforming care at the time.
Where to find it
Plume paperback and ebook from major booksellers (Penguin Random House); widely held in libraries.
Before you start
Heads up: Clinical detail of severe OCD distress.
Age: Not rated (adult nonfiction; suggested 14+)
The mind, sharp but not broad, sticks at every point but does not move.Rabindranath Tagore, Stray Birds, no. 50
