Obsessive Compulsive Disorders: Treating and Understanding Crippling Habits [Paperback]

Steven Levenkron (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1992

Running fifteen miles a day without being in training . . . taking two-hour showers and constantly changing clothes . . . working twelve hours a day, six days a week . . . these are obsessive-compulsive disorders. Now a world-renowned psychotherapist explains what they are, how they come about, and what can be done about them.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), the mysterious illness that compels its victims to perform such ordinary behavior as handwashing in an abnormal manner, afflicts an estimated four million Americans. Addressing OCD sufferers, their families, and health professionals, psychotherapist Levenkron asserts that people who have been underparented develop OCD to combat their resulting insecurity. Case histories follow OCD patients through the therapeutic process, which Levenkron believes should provide nurturing but authoritative counseling to gain patient trust and medical intervention to help end compulsive behavior. While Judith Rapoport's The Boy Who Couldn't Stop Washing (Dutton, 1989) introduced the disease to laypersons, this title explores a new treatment alternative. For large medical and psychology collections.
- Linda S. Green, Chicago P.L.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 204 pages
• Publisher: Warner Books; 1st edition (January 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446393487
• ISBN-13: 978-0446393485
• Product Dimensions: 5.3 x 0.5 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,960,316 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Obsessive Compulsive Disorders: Treating and Understanding, April 15, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Obsessive Compulsive Disorders: Treating and Understanding Crippling Habits (Paperback)

As someone who has suffered from OCD and eating disorders, and who has also lived with someone who had OCD, I found this book to be very valuable. I can see where parents might take offense in cases where there is a strong biochemical predisposition. But the reality is that much of what Levenkron says about children who have had to play the role of the parent (underparenting) is completely true. The repetive behaviors and thoughts help to create a structure and order to the world that we did not experience as children. That is not to say that his theory is an exclusive explanation of this disorder. It will apply or be "true" for some cases and not for others. It is definitely worth considering, especially if you are somone afflicted with this disorder to any degree. And remember, people thought Levenkron was way off with his nuturant-authoritative approach described in his ground breaking book, Treating and Overcoming Anorexia Nervosa, and now it is practically a classic.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders ..., January 16, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Obsessive Compulsive Disorders: Treating and Understanding Crippling Habits (Paperback)

A parent's anguish in watching one's child suffer with OCD is on-going, tempered by glimmers of hope and a steadfast belief that, some day and some how, the disorder will be conquered. As a parent, that anguish is underscored with self doubt, guilt and the ever nagging questions about what one did, or didn't do, that might have caused the OCD to develop. We know now that OCD is a complex condition involving brain chemistry, heredity, exposure to streptococus bacteria and other factors. But, in this book, Levenkron claims OCD is caused by what he calls "underparenting". At the beginning of Chapter Two, Levenkron says: "A decrease in obsessive-compulsive disorders depends upon an increase in proper parental nurturing. Such a decrease requires men and women, who are ready for long-term commitment as parents, putting the good of their children first ..." As a parent who HAS nurtured and loved her child, who HAS made personal choices to put her child first, only to see him develop OCD, I felt Levenkron's comment was like a knife through the heart. Every therapist I've talked to has assured me there was nothing I did, or didn't do, to cause my son's OCD. I threw Levenkron's outdated and misleading book in the recycling bin where it, hopefully, will go on to a new and more productive life as a paper towel.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Understand the full picture of OCD, May 22, 2002

By 

Cheri Landis (Telford, PA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Obsessive Compulsive Disorders: Treating and Understanding Crippling Habits (Paperback)

This book has not only helped me to understand my own disorder but to also try to overcome it. I can see how parents find this book offensive but really they read the book as a parent not as a caring person trying to understand. Yes a chemical imbalance can help to have caused OCD but underparenting can also play a big role. It frustrates me to hear parents say they had nothing to do with their child's disorder because right now i'm struggling with my parents because they still blame me for the things i had to go through and are still trying to change all I am even the part of me that is not controlled by my disorder rather than try to change themselves as well which has only made matters worse. Yes it may hurt a parent to hear they had a part in their child's disorder but it also hurts the child to be blamed for something they don't really understand themselves. But once you can see that you must change as well you can greatly help your child and make them feel loved rather than blamed. Steven Levenkron's books have gotten me through so much, he not only helped me understand my self-mutilation and help me through the recovery process in the book cutting but has also stopped my anorexia before i had severe medical problems, this book on OCD has helped me have a greater understanding of what i'm going through because none of my counselors or even during my hospitalization did anyone bother to look at the full picture and explain to me what's going on. I strongly advice you to read this book, it can open your eyes and help you see the full picture.