Touch and Go Joe: An Adolescent's Experience of OCD

by Joe Wells

Part of the Reading Well scheme. 35 books selected by young people and health professionals to provide young people with high-quality support, information and advice about common mental health issues and related conditions. As many as 2 in every 100 people suffer from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), and 16-year-old Joe Wells is one of them. In Touch and Go Joe, he tells the story of his battle with OCD from its insidious beginnings at age 9 and increasingly intrusive symptoms, to diagnosis at age 12. Having struggled to keep the condition a secret for years, he is now able to talk and write openly about OCD and how he battled to overcome it. This book is packed with advice and coping strategies, as well as first-hand accounts of available treatments such as cognitive behavioural therapy and medication. Written in an informal and accessible style, and including his own humorous illustrations, Touch and Go Joe gives an upbeat yet realistic look at the effect of OCD on adolescent life. This honest and amusing account will raise awareness of this all-too-common, yet frequently misdiagnosed disorder and will be of interest to anyone who has suffered from or knows someone who has suffered from OCD, including children and adolescents, teachers, psychologists, psychiatrists, mental health professionals, parents and carers.

Genres: Nonfiction, Health, Self Help, Mental Health, Psychology

128 pages, Paperback

First published March 13, 2006

Reviews

[Caroline · Rating 3 out of 5]

About 2% of the population suffer with OCD, and this slim book taught me a fair amount about this condition.

Most of all it taught me that the rituals we associate with OCD are used to keep repetitive and frightening thoughts at bay, eg 'If I tap the door handle 3 times, the door 6 times then the door frame 10 times, so and so won't happen.' (If the tapping isn't done absolutely correctly, then it has to be done over again.)

It took Joe's parents a surprising amount of time to work out what was causing Joe's odd behaviours. He was very hesitant to let anyone know what he was thinking. If he had, it would have been much easier to diagnose OCD.

OCD can have different manifestations, including:

Fear of dirt and contamination (often resulting in obsessive hand washing.)
Counting rituals
Need for symmetry or objects to be in just the 'right' position.
Fear of losing things.
Hoarding, fear of throwing things out.

Joe, the young man who wrote this book, was almost completely able to overcome his OCD, which I found incredibly heartening. For him it took a combination of cognitive behavioural therapy with a psychologist, and the antidepressant citalopram, although he only took that for a limited time .

The book has a good summary at the end of every chapter, and also contains some excellent references for anyone who wants further information.

Finally, I loved the illustrations, which were done by Joe himself. This one shows how the behaviour (in Joe's case tapping on things), is just the tip of the iceberg. It's the frightening thoughts that are the real bulk of the problem.

[Louise Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

as someone who has suffered from ocd for the majority of my life and now middle aged it started with counting and rituals and became gradually worse joe describes his experiences with humour and easy to read alot of people think ocd is just about constant cleaning but so much more it is more being anxious and having to commit rituals it is more common than what people think !!! just wish more people wld understand it miracle of , miracles

[Jake Marrinan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very readable. Very insiteful. I have a fair amount of knowledge about anxiety and OCD, and also CBT... but I still found this book to be an interesting and inspiring read.

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Useful, shortish book. Felt a little dated in terms of cultural references now but nonetheless might help someone.

[BlueHummingbirds · Rating 5 out of 5]

To be honest I think it was whilst reading this book that I first thought to myself "Hey; I can relate to some of this."
I've got OCD and reading this book is always really helpful for me, so I'd recommend it to anyone with OCD, or their family and friends. The book isn't serious or angsty; whilst it deals with a really serious issue, the author doesn't spend the whole time feeling sorry for himself, which I've seen in some other books about OCD I've read. There's a lot of humour in this book-especially in the illustrations (my personal favourite being "Any last words?" "Yeah, can I just touch this gun 2-2-6-2 times?") and I liked the quotes at the start of each chapter too.
All in all, even if you don't have OCD or know anybody with the illness, this is a very interesting read.

[Wilde Sky · Rating 3 out of 5]

A young man describes his obsessive compulsive behaviour (OCD).

I found this book quite interesting.