At the age of fourteen, Charles spent three hours a day in the shower and it took him two hours to get dressed. He suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder, a strange and secretive illness that affects the lives of hundreds of thousand of people. For the first time, they speak out, accompanied by their doctors, and invite us to reflect on this mysterious illness which we are just only beginning to be able to treat.

Psychiatrist Judith Rapoport directs the children's psychiatric services program at the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Maryland (United States).