The book, Just Checking: Scenes from the Life of an Obsessive-Compulsive by Emily Colas, was told in brief stories from a woman’s back and forth battle with obsessive compulsive disorder to finally understanding and admitting she needed help and treated. Through the book I learned more about and realized that obsessive compulsive disorder is a unique disorder because it gets thrown around so often and freely. I’ve heard people talk about having obsessive compulsive disorder and I’ve probably though I have it at least some time in my life before because people tend to think having a weird quirk such as stressing when your room isn’t clean because your mom or dad doesn’t like when it gets dirty. This would not be under the category for obsessive compulsive because the thoughts are about real-life situations.
From the textbook Abnormal Psychology by Ronald J. Comer, “Obsessions are persistent thoughts, ideas, impulses, or images that seem to invade a person’s consciousness” (Comer, 2015, p. 161). The way Comer and Colas describe obsessive compulsive disorder are similar in some ways, but different in others. It seems they both believe, “You may find yourself filled with thoughts about an upcoming performance or exam or keep wondering whether you forgot to turn off the stove or lock the door…” (Comer, 2015, p. 161). However, Comer goes on, “You may feel better when you avoid stepping on cracks, turn away from black cats, or arrange your closet in a particular manner” (Comer, 2015, p. 162). The second sentence by Comer seems to differ from what Colas would say obsessive compulsive disorder is. While not directly writing what obsessive compulsive disorder is, Colas describes her version as a more hectic and controlling version of what Colas wrote about.
Colas’ writing and overall way in which the book was presented was very unclear and unorganized, resembling someone who had a psychiatric disorder. We are taken through different stories Colas remembers about from marriage troubles to restaurant problems, and even the extremes of maintaining a clean apartment. Colas also adds a sense of humor that makes it feel like I had known her for years after reading her book and that does help with continuing the book, since the organization and lack of a climax hurt the story and make it hard to want to keep reading. Colas likes to jump around from story to story which really made the book hard to follow. However, after reading some of the stories several times, and making sure I understood what Colas was trying to write, I got a complete new idea of what obsessive compulsive disorder was.
The way in which Emily Colas told the stories of her experiences with obsessive compulsive disorder was in a way that I had never even believed was possible. These stories got me frightened and speechless and they were some of the most intense stories about obsessive compulsive disorder I’ve ever heard or read about. These stories told the readers about obsessive compulsive disorder in a complete new way and were very different from what I thought they would be. Before reading the book, I just thought obsessive compulsive was something someone couldn’t get out of their head that made them do certain things. Like wanting to have their pencil on the right side of their desk when they were sitting down, or always wanting to have their dishes washed, and never in the sink. However, after reading Just checking: Scenes from the Life of an Obsessive-Compulsive, I quickly learned these things were more of quirks and not obsessive compulsive behavior. The behavior I pictured before reading the book was not at all like what was described in the book, and to me, that was a good thing. I liked this because it was something fresh and new, and even had some real big laughing moments.
The big stories that stuck out to me were scenes about marriage problems, restaurant dilemmas, and having a clean apartment. Colas wrote about her marriage very openly and was very honest about it. Colas and her husband end up separating for some time during the book, but they end up starting to talk again and discuss the idea of getting back together. During this time though, she goes out and cheats on him with a man she had known from high school. This guy then vanishes and isn’t spoken of again. When she told stories about restaurants and food, she would have her husband or children eat her food before her to make sure she wasn’t being poisoned. While she didn’t want to be poisoned herself she was perfectly okay with her children or husband being poisoned since she would always have someone else eat her food before her. This struck me and I found this part especially frustrating, and was when I started believe she was mean and self-centered. While on one side I did believe she was mean and self-centered the other part of me knew she had a disorder and seriously wondered whether a person with a disorder could be okay with having people they love become ill or even die. The last story about the clean apartment also frustrated me in the sense she wouldn’t even be the one who cleaned the apartment, it was her husband. She would make him take out twenty some trash bags down to the dumpster, one at a time and she would watch from a window. Then, he would have to wash his hands, Colas would inspect him for any dirt and he would continue. If she found something on him she would make him go down, open the trash bags and find what it was. Then he would have to throw away his clothes and take a shower. Her husband was in the book a lot and played a big role in her life.
Her husband seemed to be nice but also seemed to be an enabler. He would want her to seek medical attention and get help but he would also indulge her whims and do what she wanted. He would go along with anything she wanted him to do from eating her food for her to check for poison and asking waiters and servers if they had cuts that could’ve gotten blood in her food, to taking out her enormous amounts of garbage because she would hoard their garbage. At the same time, he did seem to be quite mean as well and made me wonder whether that personality was there his entire life or just after he had been with Colas.
Colas’ experiences with obsessive compulsive disorder had an impact on her everyday life. I would not have been able to imagine what someone with this disorder could go through day to day without reading this book. With this in mind, I also got the idea that Colas did things because she could get away with them. It seemed everyone would go along with what she said and had people do because she was diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder. She also didn’t have a job and I don’t think the unstructured life helped in any way, as she was able to sit at home, do what she wanted, and make other people do things for her. When she finally sought treatment, and was given a pill, everything was gone, and she was “cured”. This also seemed strange as I had always thought medicine alongside counseling, or other forms of care worked best together. Colas goes from not being able to function, hooking up with a guy from high school while also talking to her ex-husband, to being “cured” with a simple pill. Along with this, Colas never had any fears that weren’t about real life situations. After reading and learning more about obsessive compulsive disorder, I started to wonder whether she actually had this disorder or was possibly diagnosed incorrectly.
While this book gave tremendous insight into the brain of a person with obsessive compulsive disorder, the book itself was quite hard to follow and often left myself confused about what I was reading/ had read. However, I did thoroughly enjoy the book and found I was able to know Colas on a level I didn’t think was possible simply by reading one book. Her stories of struggling with obsessive compulsive disorder make the book interesting and make myself wanting to finish each one.