Book Review: Devil in the Details, by Jennifer Traig

What an awesome book! Jennifer Traig is absolutely hilarious. This is the true story of Traig's childhood and adolescence, growing up with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Traig takes a humorous, insightful approach to what can't have been any fun at all at the time. Having had struggles with OCD myself, I could relate to quite a bit of what she said, though my problems were never as severe as hers. This ability to relate was partly why I thought she was so funny. She gives much helpful advice, such as how to get your hands really, really clean and proves the her sister's room is the Gateway to Death.

Traig's OCD started when she was three. It took many forms--scrupulosity (a hyper-religious form of OCD) being probably the most prominent and certainly the most interesting. Traig is Jewish and was so compulsive about the practice of her Jewish faith that even rabbis could tell that she had a problem after spending about five minutes with her (I mean, not that rabbis aren't intelligent people, but they weren't impressed by her piety). Apparently scrupulosity is a common manifestation of OCD (and one that passed me by, thank goodness). Plus, her family wasn't all that religious, and it was a mixed-faith family (her mother was Catholic), so she didn't exactly have all the rules right.

Traig was also plagued by anorexia, washing, and hoarding, among other things. At one point she mentions hoarding newspapers (or rather, little bits and pieces of them with religious references). I remember at one point in college the floor in my bedroom was covered with newspapers. I don't remember feeling particular angst about it, but I just felt I should keep them because I hadn't read every little bit, and that I might want to do that someday. Umm, okaay. It wasn't interfering significantly with my life or anything, but it was pretty strange, so I am now thinking it was an OCD vestige. It's such a classic OCD symptom. Why newspapers, I have no idea.

The book kind of reminds me of some of David Sedaris' essays about his experience with OCD. (David Sedaris is awesome, by the way. You should read Traig's book and then read something, anything, by David Sedaris as soon as possible).

Besides displaying a good sense of humor, Traig also does a real service in helping people understand OCD. One of the best ways to gain a better understanding of an illness such as this is to hear from someone who actually went through it.