Obsessive compulsive disorder: practical, tried-and-tested strategies to overcome OCD

289 Pages·2002·0.98 MB·English

by  Frederick Toates

Obsessive
Compulsive
Disorder
SECOND
EDITION
Practical, tried-and-tested
strategies to overcome OCD
‘A highly readable and
most informative account’
Padmal de Silva
Dr Frederick Toates
and Dr Olga Coschug-Toates
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Reviews of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
‘This is an excellent book – full of helpful hints, advice and
inspiration for those who suffer from OCD. The authors resist the
temptation to simplify, and succeed in providing an insightful guide
to a complex problem.’
DR FRANK TALLIS, Clinical Psychologist
and author of Understanding Obsessions and Compulsions
‘... helpful both to those who suffer from the condition and to those
who wish to help but struggle to understand.’
JOAN BOND, Director, TOP UK

Obsessive
Compulsive
Disorder
Practical, tried-and-tested
strategies to overcome OCD
2nd edition
Dr Frederick Toates
DPhil,DSc
Reader in Psychobiology at the Open University
Visiting Professor in France, Germany and Sweden
and
Dr Olga Coschug-Toates
PhD
Physicist
Foreword by Padmal de Silva
CLASS PUBLISHING • LONDON
First published by Thorsons as Obsessional Thoughts and Behaviour1990
Reissued by HarperCollins as Obsessive Compulsive Disorderin 1992
Text © Frederick Toates 1990, 1992
Text © Frederick Toates and Olga Coschug-Toates 2002
© Class Publishing 2002, 2005
The rights of Frederick Toates and Olga Coschug-Toates to be identified as
the authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above,
no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a
retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written
permission of the above publisher of this book.
The authors and publishers welcome feedback from the users of this book.
Please contact the publishers.
Class Publishing (London) Ltd, Barb House, Barb Mews, London W6 7PA, UK
Telephone: [phone]
Fax: [phone] [International +4420]
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.class.co.uk
The information presented in this book is accurate and current to the best
of the authors’ knowledge. The authors and publisher, however, make no
guarantee as to, and assume no responsibility for, the correctness, sufficiency
or completeness of such information or recommendation. The reader is
advised to consult a doctor regarding all aspects of individual health care.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 1 85959 069 1
Edited by Gillian Clarke
Designed and typeset by Martin Bristow
Indexed by Val Elliston
Printed and bound in Finland by WS Bookwell, Juva
Contents
Forewordby Padmal de Silva, MPhil, CPsychol, FBPsS vii
Foreword to the first editionby Hans Eysenck, PhD, DSc ix
Preface xi
Preface to the first edition xiii
Part 1:Autobiographical sketch
1 Home in Histon 3
2 Leaving school 14
3 Student life 17
4 Denmark – almost heaven 23
5 Signs of trouble ahead 28
6 Decline 34
7 Getting back to normal 43
8 Misplaced complacency 47
9 Never get complacent 52
10 Going public 66
Part 2:What is obsessional disorder and what can be done about it?
11 The nature of the problem 83
12 Overlap and confusion with other conditions 101
13 Who develops the disorder, and what is it like for them? 114
14 Professional help 129
15 Self-help – what to do and what not to do 142
16 Trying to solve the puzzle 155
17 Some famous thoughts 177
18 Conclusion 238
Glossary 243
Resources 247
Index 255

Foreword
by Padmal de Silva
Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), classified in psychiatric
thinking as an anxiety disorder, remains a fascinating phenomenon.
It is more complicated in its features and presentations than any of
the other anxiety disorders – such as agoraphobia or post-traumatic
stress disorder – and some aspects of it may seem truly bizarre to
those who have no experience of it. Why would someone feel
compelled to touch the four walls of a room in a clockwise fashion as
soon as he enters it? Why would someone look at an object three
times with the right eye, followed by three times with the left eye?
Despite excellent scientific and clinical research in the last three
decades, OCD continues to fascinate and puzzle.
Much has been written about this disorder, dealing with its nature,
its various dimensions and its correlates in recent years. Frederick
Toates’ book, which was first published in 1990, was one of several
books on this subject intended for the general reader. It was, however,
different from the others. Here was an author writing about his own
experience of suffering from OCD, and also summarising – and
commenting on – the scientific literature on the subject. Toates, as a
well established and highly accomplished experimental psychologist,
wrote on OCD from two vantage points: that of the sufferer, the
insider; and that of the scientist who could assess and evaluate the
literature. This made his book unique, and it was received with much
acclaim.
It is pleasing that a second edition of the book has been prepared.
In this edition, written in collaboration with his wife Olga, Toates
gives an updated version of his personal story. This is a highly
readable and most informative account, a human story told with a
frankness that all readers will find touching. In the second part of the
book, what is known about OCD and how it is treated is lucidly
explained. Even in this part, the personal perspective is not entirely
absent; his first-hand experience is there to illuminate, and to
illustrate, various points. There is also a wealth of information about
many famous people who have had OCD, which further adds to the
human interest of the book.
vii
viii OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE DISORDER
For all these reasons, this excellent new edition deserves to be widely
read and widely discussed. I am sure it will be received as a valuable
and significant contribution.
Padmal de Silva
Senior Lecturer in Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry,
King’s College, University of London;
Consultant Clinical Psychologist,
South London and Maudsley NHS Trust
Foreword to the first edition
by Professor Hans J Eysenck
A few years ago, Stuart Sutherland wrote a book entitled Breakdown
about the psychiatric troubles which all but put an end to his acade-
mic career as an experimental psychologist. In this book, Frederick
Toates, another well-known experimental psychologist, describes
graphically his own troubles with obsessive-compulsive thoughts and
ruminations, and gives the reader an opportunity to discover just how
debilitating such thoughts can be, and just what they mean in the life
of a busy professional man. Both authors clearly needed a lot of
courage to disclose their troubles in public, and we owe a debt of grat-
itude to both for making it much easier for other sufferers to realise
that they are not alone with their troubles, and to gain access to pro-
fessional advice as to what can be done, and what cannot be done, in
order to lessen their burden.
One might have thought that psychologists should know enough
about the mind not to fall prey to such disorders, but this is not a real-
istic way of approaching the topic. Just as physicians often fall ill, or
have physical diseases, so psychologists and psychiatrists quite fre-
quently fall prey to psychiatric ones – indeed, unkind critics have often
suggested that psychiatrists and psychologists frequently take up the
study of their subject because they hope to find therein some help for
their neuroses! As the ancients used to say: ‘Physician – heal thyself!’,
and the attempts of these two authors to run the gamut of therapies
offered on all sides is one of the most interesting aspects of their work.
It will certainly be of considerable interest to all those who are suffer-
ing from obsessive-compulsive thought disorders, because usually the
advice given to them is one-sided, and often based on ignorance rather
than on thorough knowledge of what is available. What indeed can
psychology do for the sufferer? It would be idle to pretend that we have
foolproof methods of treatment which guarantee success, but equally
it would be wrong to imagine that nothing can be done. This book dis-
cusses in considerable detail the methods used, and what is known
about their success, as well as the author’s own experiences with them.
Anyone suffering from obsessive-compulsive thought disorders, and
the attending anxieties and depressions, would be hard put to find a
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