Ever wonder what it was like to be an OCD sufferer a hundred years ago? 200 years ago? 500 years ago? This brief history aims to tell the story of the people who suffered from OCD* in past times, and of the people who sought to understand and treat their perplexing illness. This history has eight more short pages.
There are various ways to write a history of OCD. This one is built around the idea that, at certain points in the past, there were dramatic shifts in how OCD was understood and treated.
If you are not familiar with the typical symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder, these definitions may be helpful.
One more thing. Let's refer to obsessions as "Os" and compulsions as "Cs."
Okay, with those details out of the way, we're ready to begin.
Here's what's ahead:
Page 2: Overcoming Superstitious Notions
Page 3: The Clergy as Healers
Page 4: The Physicians Take Over
Page 5: The Growth of Asylums
Page 6: Medical Classification Debates
Page 7: The Freudian Revolution
Page 8: Developments Later in the 20th Century
Page 9: Where From Here?
*To be more historically accurate, severe obsession.