However, Dr. Rapoport includes other examples such as an account of a man who imagines running over a person while driving and then turns back to search for the man for hours and hours before encountering trouble with the police. A case like this informs the reader that OCD can make a person delusional and lead them to paranoia. Therefore, by including all aspects of this type of OCD, Dr. Rapoport can give the reader an overall idea of what the disorder may involve. In the book, Dr. Rapoport shares stories from all types of patients to avoid incorrect assumptions made by the reader. For example, two of her accounts are about young boys who have counting rituals. One of them was an eleven-year old epileptic, named Steven. The other one was eight-year old Jacob, who started these rituals after an injury had caused a bleeding cerebral aneurysm. From these accounts alone it is easy for the reader to conclude that counting rituals are analogous with neurological diseases. However, Dr. Rapoport prevents wrong perceptions by writing, "Steven and Jacob were unusual cases. Most obsessive-compulsive children and adults have never had brain surgery and do not have epilepsy or any other neurological disease." (Rapoport 90).
Throughout the book, there are a variety of accounts of OCD from patients, their families, and doctors, to allow the reader to view the disorder from many different perspectives. Perhaps the most personal are those given by the patients themselves. Rappoport includes their account of the disorder because it is most powerful to the reader since it is coming straight from the mind of an obsessive-compulsive patient. In one account, nine-year old patient, Zach, dictated chapter two. Although he was young, his words were potent as he described OCD and his reasoning for it: .
"I felt ashamed. I didn't want anyone to know. It wrecked my life. It took away all my time. I couldn't stop.
