Touch and Go Joe: An Adolescent's Experience of OCD

Part of the Reading Well scheme. 35 books selected by young people and health professionals to provide young people with high-quality support, information and advice about common mental health issues and related conditions.

As many as 2 in every 100 people suffer from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), and 16-year-old Joe Wells is one of them. In Touch and Go Joe, he tells the story of his battle with OCD from its insidious beginnings at age 9 and increasingly intrusive symptoms, to diagnosis at age 12. Having struggled to keep the condition a secret for years, he is now able to talk and write openly about OCD and how he battled to overcome it.

This book is packed with advice and coping strategies, as well as first-hand accounts of available treatments such as cognitive behavioural therapy and medication. Written in an informal and accessible style, and including his own humorous illustrations, Touch and Go Joe gives an upbeat yet realistic look at the effect of OCD on adolescent life.

This honest and amusing account will raise awareness of this all-too-common, yet frequently misdiagnosed disorder and will be of interest to anyone who has suffered from or knows someone who has suffered from OCD, including children and adolescents, teachers, psychologists, psychiatrists, mental health professionals, parents and carers.

Joe Wells is a 16-year-old student who has recently completed his GCSEs. He suffered from OCD from the age of 9, kept it a secret until age 12, and is now able to talk openly about the condition.