Read It Once, Read It Twice

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Publications

Articles

• Collections
  • Don't Think About Monkeys On-Line Magazine - is mostly devoted to TS, but it includes some OCD-related articles:
    • "If You'd Just Let Go" - a poem by Annette Grunseth about her son's OCD.
    • "Tears and Triumphs of a Young Soul" - excerpts from the journal of Michael Chapman, a youngster diagnosed with TS and OCD.
    • "Therapy Approaches, Part One" - John S. Hilkevich, M.A., on therapeutic advocates.
  • InteliHealth - home of Johns Hopkins Health Information, has links to some articles on OCD. (You might need to register first, but access is free.)
  • Internet Mental Health: Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder - has, on-line, a number of OCD articles originally published in The Harvard Mental Health Letter.
  • Mental Health for Teens - has articles by Elizabeth Drucker on her experiences as a teen suffering from OCD and other anxiety disorders.
  • Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder - Suite101.com - is a collection of columns by Cherlene Pedrick, RN; the site also features links to OCD resources on the Internet and its own web-based discussion group.
  • OCD Support Group of New Zealand - has its newsletters on-line in PDF format.
  • Pediatric Psychiatry Pamphlets - Dr. Jim Chandler's comprehensive overviews of various childhood anxiety disorders, including OCD. An essential site for parents of children who suffer from anxiety disorders.
  • Western Suffolk Psychological Services - has a collection of articles on OCD, trichotillomania, depression, etc. Many of the articles are by Dr. Fred Penzel, a frequent contributor to the OCF Newsletter.
  
  
• "Altered Gene Increases Men's Risk for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder" (The Rockefeller University News)
• "Blood Test can Identify Children with Strep-Related Behavior Disorders" - announces a new blood test (still in the research stages) that can be used to determine if children are predisposed to developing OCD and similar, strep-induced disorders.
• "Breaking the Ritual" - Karen C. recounts how she learned she has OCD.
• "The Chemistry of Obsession" - Josie Glausiusz in Discover Magazine.
• "Chicago Researcher Looks for Genes Underlying Psychiatric Diseases of Childhood" - describes investigations by Dr. Edwin Cook, Jr. into the genetic bases of psychiatric disorders such as autism, ADHD, and OCD. (Perkin-Elmer Applied Biosystems)
• "Children and OCD" - transcript of a question-and-answer session with Dr. Caryn Schorr, medical director of Pediatric Psychiatry for South Broward Hospital District. (From CBS News Up to the Minute, "Parenting Points", May 23, 1996.)
• "Clinicial Chameleons: Obsessive-Compulsive (OCD) Symptoms in Schizophrenia" - Paul C. Bermanzohn, M.D. in the NARSAD Research Newsletter.
• "Dealing With Dog Anxiety" - by Richard Schlesinger on CBS's 48 Hours.
• "Denial is Everywhere Here" - is the story, told by his sister, of a young man suffering from OCD and alcoholism.
• "Eating Disorders: The Obsessive-Compulsive Link" - by Sharon Discorfano in Perspectives: A Mental Health Magazine.
• "Fairy Tales and Movies" - by Nicole Suggs, postulates Beauty and the Beast as a model for the movie, As Good As It Gets.
• "Force of Habit: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder" - by Colleen Rush.
• "Going to Extremes" - Vicki Morgan in The Plano Star Courier. A somewhat misleading article on OCD in children.
• "Guidelines for Managing Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Issued" - by Ed Susman in the Medical Tribune announces the guidelines issued by the Expert Consensus Panel.
• "How to Help Patients with OCD" - is the transcript of an excellent interview, including questions from the audience, with Dr. James Claiborn.
• "Howard Stern Interviewed: Miss America Speaks Out" - mentions his OCD.
• Hypochondriacs Need Treatment - is a brief description of a study that, noting the similarities between hypochondria and OCD, attempted to treat the former with Prozac. (Columbia University Record)
• "The "I" and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder" - Jessica Zaldivar. A neurobiology paper on OCD.
• "Illuminating the Doubting Disease" - Diane Sussman in the Palo Alto Weekly. The article describes OCD and the OCD clinic at Stanford University, California, USA.
• The Infinite Mind: Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder - summary of January 1999 interviews with various OCD movers and shakers, both doctors and patients.
• "Inner Storms and Rainbows: TS and OCD ... Disability and Ability" - John S. Hilkevich, M.A. Also see Don't Think About Monkeys On-Line Magazine above and his other articles on TS and OCD.
• "It's a Touchy Feely Experience" - virtual reality-based behavior therapy for a patient obsessed with spiders.
• "Let Them Eat Dirt: Could Today's Squeaky Clean World Be Making Us Ill?" - Garry Hamilton in New Scientist.
• "Living with 'Obsessive Compulsive Disorder'" - by Mary Haase. An excellent look at various types of OCD and how they affect the sufferers.
• "Magnificent Obsession" - Pamela J. Taylor. A sermon that begins with an OCD story.
• "Marker Identified for Children at Risk for OCD After Strep" - about PANDAS, in Psychiatric News.
• "Mensans and Their Obsessions" - Mark Hutchenreuther. A humorous, good-natured look at OCD symptoms. What is an RG?
• "Mental Illness Needs Understanding" - Krissi Duncan. A letter to the editor - "There are people in the world suffering daily and people can't see it."
• "At the Office: Meticulous Behavior Could Be Sign of Illness" - Cathleen Ferraro in The Sacramento Bee.
• "Mr. Clean: A TV Host Confronts His Lifelong Compulsion" - Marc Summers - the Marc Summers - in People.
• "Neurobiological Disorders in Children and Adolescents" - has a section on OCD.
• "Obsessive-Compulsive Calvin (OCD Case Study)" - a school paper about scrupulosity and OCD.
• "Obsessive Compulsive Disorder" - Gina Colata in Woman Today.
• "Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder - Dan J. Stein. An overview of OCD's physiological basis and its treatment.
• "Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder" - an overview of OCD and its treatment. (mediconsult.com, "The Medical Web Destination Patients Use Most")
• "Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder" - April Hendley. An English composition on OCD.
• "Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder" - Rachel Kaplan. A neurobiology paper on OCD.
• "Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Monster Took My Dad Away" - a heart-rending, first-person account of living with and losing someone who suffered from OCD. (I believe this was originally posted to the OCD-L mailing list.) (NAMI/NYC)
• "Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: New Hypotheses in Etiology and Breakthrough Treatment Approaches" - a neurochemistry paper by an unnamed student at the University of California at Berkeley.
• "Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders" - transcript of an on-line discussion with Dr. Sanjaya Saxena, director of the UCLA OCD research program. (From CCI Journal.)
• "Obsessive Compulsive Sufferer Organizes Meeting to Aid Others" - Tracy L. Pipp in The Detroit News.
• OCD - is a small collection of essays on OCD and the movie, As Good As It Gets. Click on the .HTM files to see the essays. (The links in the Table of Contents don't work.)
• "Over and Over and Over ..." - Phyllida Brown in New Scientist. Also see a subsequent letter to the editor.
• "Pharmacological Treatments of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder" - by an unnamed author; interesting bibliography.
• "Pregnancy Suspected Trigger in Onset of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder" - announces a 1997 conference, Recognizing and Treating and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Opportunities for OB/Gyns.
• "Psychosurgery Redux: The 1990s Version Uses Radiation and Brain Imaging" - Wray Herbert in US News & World Report, November 3, 1997.
• "Religious Obsessions, Thoughts Associated with Mental Disorders" - by Jamie Talan of Newsday in Northwest Arkansas Online, October 6, 1999. (Story is on the second page of the PDF file; see Google for a largely unreadable text version.)
• "Researchers' Find Disputes Theories on Brain Disease" - by Jamie Talan of Newsday in The Seattle Times, October 26, 1999.
• "Scrupulosity: Age-Old Problems, Holistic Responses" - by Paul Duckro and Jason Williams, is an excellent summary of the history, diagnosis, and treatment of scrupulosity, .
• "Searching for a Better Understanding of OCD" - Anne Brown in the NARSAD Research Newsletter.
• "Shame, Secrecy Hinder Diagnosis and Treatment of Childhood OCD" - from Doctor's Guide to the Internet.
• "Sisters of Seizure" - by Michael Alvear in Salon. A great article about Alvear's personal experience with generalized anxiety disorder and "a little OCD on the side". He says he had "OCD Lite": pure obsessions, as they're sometimes called, without the ritualistic (physical?) behavior. Or, as Alvear humorously puts it, "I had the wattage, but not the plumage"!
• "Therapy by Phone Aims to Help Obsessive-Compulsive Patients" - JoAnn Jacobsen-Wells in The Salt Lake Tribune.
• "Tics" - Oliver Sacks in The New York Review of Books, January 29, 1987. Ostensibly about Tourette Syndrome and no mention of OCD, but many of the symptoms he describes cross over into OCD.
• "Tormented by Thoughts: Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Causes Recurring Thoughts" - television report. (ABC News 20/20, December 2, 1999)
• "Treatment of OCD and Obsessive-Compulsive Spectrum Disorder" - Dr. Gerald D. Klee summarizes a lecture given by Dr. John M. Griest to the Maryland Psychiatric Society.
• "Les Troubles Obsessionnels-Compulsifs" - a brief overview, in French, of OCD by Dr. François Ferrero.
• Understanding Anxiety Disorders - provides a detailed look at OCD, with sections on History, Epidemiology, Etiology, Diagnosis and Clinical Features, Course and Prognosis, and Treatment. (The National Depressive and Manic-Depressive Association)
• "What is Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder?"

Books

• Amazon.com's List of OCD Books
• Associates of Amazon.com:
  • Anxiety Disorders Bookshop: Obsessive Compulsive Behavior
  • PsyCom.Net Book Service: Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
  • RecoveryBooks.com: Compulsive Behavior

I am not an associate of Amazon.com or any other bookseller; the links below are to reviews and announcements. There are, however, many more books on OCD; visit one or more of the booksellers above for more complete listings.

• Blink, Blink, Clop. Clop: Why Do We Do Things We Can't Stop? - by E. Katia Mortiz, Ph.D. and Jennifer Jablonsky. A storybook aimed at helping young children to understand and manage OCD. (The publisher, Childswork/Childplay, has books and games for other disorders as well.)
• The Boy Who Couldn't Stop Washing - Judith Rapoport's classic book. (Book review)
• A Cursing Brain? The History of Tourette Syndrome - by Howard Kushner. (Book review)
• Everything In Its Place - by entertainer and national OCF spokesman Marc Summers.
• From Thoughts to Obsessions: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder in Children and Adolescents - by Per Hove Thomsen.
• Madness on the Couch: Blaming the Victim in the Heyday of Psychoanalysis - is a book by Edward Dolnick which focuses on the historical misapplication of Freud's theories to the understanding and treatment of schizophrenia, autism, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. (Book review; my book review)
• Naked - by David Sedaris. One chapter, "The Plague of Tics", describes his childhood struggles with OCD. You can hear him read a semi-humorous, semi-serious excerpt from the chapter here (MP3 and RealAudio formats). (Book review)
• ... nine, ten, do it again. A book for those with OCD and their families. - by Kathryn I'Anson. The web page has excerpts from the book and a table of contents.
• Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders: A Comprehensive Clinical Guide - by Lorrin Koran, M.D., professor of psychiatry at Stanford University and director of the Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders Clinic.
• Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Help for Children and Adolescents - by Mitzi Waltz. (The publisher's page includes a table of contents, reviews, and the preface from the book.)
• Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders: A Guide to Getting Well and Staying Well - by Fred Penzel, Ph.D., a prolific writer! (order form)
• The OCD Daily Meditation Book - by Dr. Christian R. Komor and James Callner, M.A. The web page has excerpts from the book and a table of contents.
• The OCD Workbook: Your Guide to Breaking Free from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder - by Bruce Hyman, Ph.D. and Cherry Pedrick, R.N.
• Psychological Self-Help - by Clayton E. Tucker-Ladd, Ph.D. is a comprehensive on-line book about what the title suggests. Chapter 5 includes a section on OCD.
• The Secret Problem - is a cartoon book about OCD for children, written and illustrated by Drs. Chris Wever and Neil Phillips, two psychiatrists in Australia. They have also written similar books about panic disorder and ADD; see Shrink-Rap Press.
• The Sky is Falling: Understanding and Coping with Phobias, Panic, and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders - by Raeann Dumont. (Book announcement)
• Teaching the Tiger: A Handbook for Individuals Involved in the Education of Students with ADD, TS, or OCD - by Marilyn P. Dornbush and Sheryl K. Pruitt. (Book announcement)
• Theoretical Approaches to Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder - by Ian Jakes. (Book announcement)
• A Thousand Frightening Fantasies: Understanding and Healing Scrupulosity and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder - by William E. Van Ornum, Ph.D.
• Tourette's Syndrome -- Tics, Obsessions, Compulsions: Developmental Psychopathology and Clinical Care - edited by James F. Leckman and Donald J. Cohen. (Reviewed by Barbara J. Coffey in The New England Journal of Medicine)

Fiction

• "Episode on South Street" - a short story involving OCD by Ed Newman.
• Kissing Doorknobs - by Terry Spencer Hesser. A young adult novel told from the point of view of a 14-year-old who has developed OCD. (Review)
• Motherless Brooklyn - by Jonathan Lethem. A mystery novel featuring a detective with Tourette Syndrome. You can hear an excerpt from the book here (MP3 and RealAudio formats). (Book review)

Scholarly Papers

• Mental Health Net: OCD Research - provides simplified access to the PubMed MEDLINE bibliographic database maintained by the National Library of Medicine. Searching on "All" produced a list of 2,733 OCD-related citations, many with abstracts; the search can be narrowed further by selecting a particular area of interest on which to search.
• Collections
  • Computers in Mental Health (University of Exeter) has readable articles on the use of computers in the mental health field, including the following:
    • "Computer-Aided Vicarious Exposure in the Treatment of Phobias and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder" - summarizes the authors' research into computer-aided treatment of spider phobia and hand washing rituals.
    • "The Maudsley-BT STEPS Clinic" - describes a phone-based, "computer-aided behavioural self-help system" for OCD developed by Drs. Isaac Marks, John Greist, and Lee Baer. (Also see the phone-based COPE program they developed for depression.)
    • "Psychiatry on the Internet: Survey of an OCD Mailing List" - reports on a study of the OCD-L mailing list. (Dan J. Stein in Psychiatric Bulletin)
  • Current CME Reviews: Anxiety Disorders - has links to a number of on-line, scholarly, but readable papers on OCD.
  • The Inositol Reports - is a collection of three papers that describe studies of Inositol in the treatment of depression, panic disorder, and OCD.
  • Internet Mental Health: Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder - has links to lengthy bibliographies (with summaries) on the diagnosis of OCD, the treatment of OCD, and the cause of OCD.
  • Medscape Clinical Abstracts - Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder - has abstracts for a number of OCD studies (as of 1997).
  • OCD Clinical Research Program's Publications - at Wayne State University.
  
  
• "Alteration of the Platelet Serotonin Transporter in Romantic Love" - (abstract only) notes the biochemical similarities between OCD and romantic love. This paper, by Marazziti, Akiskal, Rossi, and Cassano, was awarded the 2000 Ig® Nobel Prize in Chemistry. (Psychological Medicine 1999 May; 29(3):741-5)
• "Anticipatory Adjustments in Grip Force in Individuals with Tourette's Syndrome" - summarizes a study by Flanagan, Jakobson, and Munhall of movement tics as "coordinated actions that are produced at inappropriate times". (Published article in PDF format)
• "A Case of Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated With Streptococcal Infections" - Perlmutter, Garvey, Castellanos, Mittleman, Giedd, Rapoport, and Swedo. (American Journal of Psychiatry, November 1998)
• "Clinical Factors Affecting Response and Adverse Reactions in Patients Treated with Fluoxetine" - Larry Brash.
• "Delayed Treatment in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: A Discussion and Survey Analysis" - James J. Ellis. Analyzes "the time lag between the onset of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and the first time the patient seeks treatment"; some of the data was collected from the OCD-L mailing list.
• "The Development of the Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder School Impact Scale: An Investigation Using the Accuracy-Reliability Paradigm for Scale Validation" - Thomas Kratochwill. Project description.
• "The Disease of Ritual: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder as an Outgrowth of Normal Behavior" - Diana Smay, The Emory Center for Myth and Ritual in American Life (MARIAL). The working paper examines "the implications of a common ground between normal ritual as a basic and necessary component of human cultural behavior, and the behaviors of OCD as pathology". (PDF format)
• "The Effect of Perceived Responsibility on Obsessive Compulsive Checking Behavior" - Laura M. Novak. A proposed study; also see her annotated citations.
• "The Efficacy of Behavioral Therapy with Obsessive-Compulsives" - Edna B. Foa, Ph.D. (The Clinical Psychologist, 1996; 49(2):19-22)
• "A 40-Year Follow-up of Patients With Obsessive-compulsive Disorder" - Gunnar and Ingmar Skoog. (AMA's Archives of General Psychiatry, February 1999)
• "Fluvoxamine Versus Clomipramine in the Treatment of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: A Multicenter, Randomized, Double-Blind, Parallel Group Comparison" - Christopher Freeman et al. Luvox vs. Anafranil, and the winner is - both! (The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 1994; 55:301-305)
• "Genotype determining low catechol-O-methyltransferase activity as a risk factor for obsessive-compulsive disorder" (Proc Natl Acad Sci USA)
• "Managing Aggressive Behavior in Patients With Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Borderline Personality Disorder" - Eric Hollander. (The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 1999)
• "Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder" - Sarah C. Aronson. A doctor's overview of OCD.
• "Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder - A Complication of Benzodiazepine Withdrawal" - abstract only, but the abstract includes the case report of a woman who developed OCD after stopping the indicated medicine. (The paper dates from the late 1980's.)
• Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Annual Incidence: Kaplan-Meier Estimation - a graph of incidence versus age of onset. (Guojun Cai)
• PET Scans of OCD Patients - before and after drug therapy, and before and after behavior therapy.
• "Platelet Serotonin Transporter in Children and Adolescents with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder or Tourette's Syndrome" - abstract only. (J. Am. Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry)
• "Pregnancy Outcome Following Maternal Use of the New Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors" - abstract only. (Journal of the American Medical Association, February 25, 1998)
• "A Preliminary Study of Partial Hospital Management of Severe Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder" - abstract only. (Psychiatric Services)
• "Structural Abnormalities of Frontal Neocortex in Obsessive-compulsive Disorder" - Igor D. Grachev et al update an article by Jenike et al. (Archives of General Psychiatry, February 1998; 55(2):181-182)
• "A Time-Limited Behavioral Group for Treatment of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder" - Barbara L. Van Noppen et al. (The Journal of Psychotherapy Practice and Research, October 1998)
  
  
• Stereotypical Behaviors Database - is an extensive bibliography of academic papers on OCD (and other behavior disorders) in animals and humans. (Compiled by Ione Smith?)