Living With Severe Obsessive Compulsive Disorder [Paperback]

Marie Gius (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 22, 2006

"Living With Severe OCD" is from one who suffers with this disorder every moment of her life. Written to enlighten others, the medical community as well as the general public, Marie Gius' account puts a personal stamp on this debilitating mental illness, including her five psychiatric hospital confinemants and her attempted suicide.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Marie Gius was born in Tacoma, Washington. in the year 1953. Marie has an older brother and identical twin sister that is five minutes younger then her. She attended Western Washington University and Central Washington University and graduated in 1977 from CWU with double majors in English and Business Education. She received a Master's Degree from CWU in 1980 in Education. Marie loved to read, write, and walk. She taught 19 years at Eastmont Junior High School in East Wenatchee, WA. Marie is happily married to Doug Spaulding since 1993. She resigned from teaching in the spring of 1996 because of her OCD. She has since volunteered in a writing center at a local community college. Marie is busy being a housewife and promoting her new book, which was published in June 2006.

Product Details

• Paperback: 180 pages
• Publisher: Book Publishers Network (June 22, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1887542418
• ISBN-13: 978-1887542418
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.7 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,190,674 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A portrait of courage and perseverance, August 18, 2006

By 

L. F. Smith (E. Wenatchee, WA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Living With Severe Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (Paperback)

I am in awe of the author, Marie Gius. That's because I know her-- but I don't really know her at all.

Marie taught junior high school English in the district where I taught high school English for twenty years. During that time, we all saw her as a very bright, hard-working, dedicated, relentlessly cheerful person. She seemed a bit odd to me, but that was because she seemed to be "on" all of the time, and most teachers aren't.

However, most of us really didn't know her at all, simply because we didn't know that she was suffering from severe obsessive compulsive disorder, a condition that had afflicted her from early adolescence and that eventually drove her from her career and right to the brink of suicide. I can't imagine the sheer energy it took for her to hide her illness from us all.

This book is her account of the way OCD has very nearly destroyed her. It's a very personal account, with just enough technical information to allow a non-expert to understand the affliction. It is a raw, honest account of what it feels like to spend nearly every waking moment for over forty years having a mental illness grinding relentlessly at one's ability to live a "normal" life. There is no happy ending here; to this day, she continues to suffer, and she probably will for the rest of her life.

At one point, she asks, "What do you think? Get inside my mind. Have a glimpse of my hell on earth... Then you decide: normal or crazy?" Well, in my view, neither. That is, if one defines "normal" as meaning "like most other people," then Marie isn't "normal." However, she most certainly isn't crazy, either. To me, she is an exemplar of personal courage, and this book is an indelible portrait of the strength of her spirit. After reading it, I will never think of OCD-- or of Marie Gius-- the same way again.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Funny, endearing, and REAL, July 10, 2006

By 

Nicole (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Living With Severe Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (Paperback)

A wonderful read, especially if you want to understand more about OCD. The stories are funny, heartbreaking and very real.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Well, what can I say? This book is basically just one long whine, May 6, 2007

By 

Joy "ordinary reader" (USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Living With Severe Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (Paperback)

I was eager to read this book as I myself am an OCD sufferer, but I admit I was most disappointed. The author is to be commended for her courage in writing this account. It is incredibly hard to share something this personal and debilitating. I applaud her for her willingness to open up about her life. With that said, however, the entire attitude of the book is one big whine. It is poor me, I am the worst case ever. She blames her mother for this disorder several times each chapter. The time line jumps around so much it is hard to follow. The book itself is quite poorly written. She appears not to have had much ERP, the most proven method of providing improvement for OCD sufferers. I do feel sorry for the extent of her illness but she almost wears it as a badge to show how bad off she is and always will be. The mother blaming gets quite old, too, as psychologists generally do not consider what happened during childhood as being of much or any relevance to OCD, a largely biologically based disorder. If you want to know the extent of how disabled a person with OCD can become, then read this account. If you want to know about treatments available and how symptoms of OCD can be greatly lessened and become more manageable, this is definitely not the book for you. I finished the book feeling quite depressed. The author provides no hope.