The Man Who Couldn´t Stop: The Truth About OCD
David Adam
A Sunday Times Bestseller
'An honest and open and, yes, maybe life-changing work' – Matt Haig, author of The Midnight Library
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.
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.
David has suffered from obsessive compulsive disorder (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.
Product Details
About David Adam
Reviews for The Man Who Couldn´t Stop: The Truth About OCD
Sunday Times
A fascinating study of the living nightmare that is obsessive compulsive disorder ... one of the best and most readable studies of a mental illness to have emerged in recent years ... an honest and open and, yes, maybe life-changing work
Matt Haig
Observer
Combines a scientific account of OCD from ancient times to the most recent research with passages of tenderly written memoir
Telegraph
The Man Who Couldn't Stop is quite simply book of the year, on living with OCD: just buy it now
Adam Rutherford Superb... A brave and helpful contribution to deepening our understanding of the intricate complexities of mental ill-health
The Times
Adam recounts his journey with humour and detachment
Literary Review
[An] engaging, exhaustively researched neuro memoir, a blend of brain science and personal history
Evening Standard
This blew me away. Stunning
Ian Sample
Guardian
An insider's tour of the OCD brain, providing insight into the cultural and scientific evolution of how we view and treat a disorder that affects up to 3% of people worldwide
Nature
A captivating first-person account of how a blizzard of unwanted thoughts can become a personal nightmare. At times shocking, at times tragic, at times unbelievably funny, it is a wonderful read
Focus
A lucid, humane - only intermittently autobiographical - science book ... offers a clear history through riveting case studies and the work of key figures
Metro
David Adam, a successful writer, is also a sufferer of obsessive compulsive disorder ... He covers the history of OCD, the treatments that have been tried without success, and his experience of cognitive behavioural therapy, CBT, which was greatly helpful. A well-written, thorough account
Independent
Well-researched, witty, honest and irreverent, Adam's account proves as irresistible as his subject
Kirkus Reviews