Imp of the mind

Author: Lee Baer
Paperback: 176 pages
Publisher: Plume; Reissue edition (February 26, 2002)
ISBN: 0452283078
Amazon Average Customer Review: 4/5 (based on 17 reviews)

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      Reviewed by BigKeefer

This book is aimed purely at OCD suffers who have the "bad thoughts" flavour. Most commonly referred to as "Pure-O". It is split into two parts:

Part One: The problem of Bad Thoughts
- The Imp of the Perverse
- Thoughts of harming children
- How can I be certain they're just thoughts?
- What causes Bad Thoughts?

Part Two: Treatment of Bad Thoughts
- Facing your Fears Head-on: Exposure Therapy
- Questioning your Bad Thoughts. Cognitive therapy
- Blasphemous Bad Thoughts
- Medications for Bad Thoughts
- A Plan of Action

Both parts use real life OCDers experiences, as examples, to illustrate the points the author is trying to put across. This works extremely well - not least in the fact that it is a tremendous relief to hear about people that have similar, if not identical, thoughts to yourself. (As yes, this means that you're not mad either!) And an even greater relief to see they have received treatment that has made them much, much better Also, it makes the procedures and theories that Baer describes so much easier to understand - as we all understand the sufferer's point of view!

Part One basically describes this flavour of OCD and how it works and what causes them. This will be the "This is sooooo me!" part of the book for people who will relate, and keep relating, after the first few pages! This part serves to make you realise that you are not alone, millions of people have this problem - and yes, it's worth saying again, you aren't mad.

Part Two, as you can see, settles down into the "So what can I do about it then?" part of the book. Much of what you read here you may well have heard of before - such as: writing down your worst feared scenario and then recording it and playing it back over and over for an hour, exposure and prevention therapy (if one of your thoughts is stabbing someone - then you would be encouraged to put yourself in a situation which has a knife ready to hand - rather than avoid them all the time.). This works on the theory of "habituation" which is an often heard word around OCD. (I'm a big advocate of it as it worked for me)

Even if you think you have heard it all before - it is well worth reading this book! It describes therapy in such a way that makes you think "Hmm. That makes sense! I'll give it a go!". It won't give you a quick cure to OCD - but then nothing will. What it will give you is a> the hope to keep going and b> the methods needed to help yourself and/or seek help from people who can aid your journey towards the end of that OCD tunnel.

In fact, in conclusion, if you suffer from this particular flavour OCD - I would strongly recommend that you read this book. It contains everything you need to get a good head start on the "Imp of the Perverse".

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