{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,4]],"date-time":"2026-05-04T00:44:23Z","timestamp":1777855463676,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":42,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2018,3,9]],"date-time":"2018-03-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1520553600000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.sagepub.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["J Med Biogr"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2018,5]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>The time period from 1840 to 1950 was one of rapid, dramatic change in the experience of suffering from and receiving treatment for obsessional disorder in the United States. Several patient case histories are discussed in detail, including those of a theology professor\u2019s acquaintance (1844), a wealthy gentleman (1880), a hosiery shop proprietor (1938), and a former college student (1949). Although the focus here is on the patients\u2019 experience, many broader aspects of the history of obsessional disorder are also explored.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/0967772017749690","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2018,3,9]],"date-time":"2018-03-09T05:20:42Z","timestamp":1520572842000},"page":"125-131","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["What was it like to suffer from obsessional disorder in the United States, 1840\u20131950?"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"26","author":[{"given":"Mackson","family":"Strayer","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Durham, North Carolina, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2018,3,9]]},"reference":[{"key":"bibr1-0967772017749690","unstructured":"Esquirol JED.\n                      Mental maladies\n                      . New York: Hafner Pub. Co., 1965, pp.348\u2013351 (facsimile of the English edition of 1845; originally published in French in 1838); Berrios GE.\n                      The history of mental symptoms\n                      . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996."},{"key":"bibr2-0967772017749690","unstructured":"Hammond WA.\n                      A treatise on insanity in its medical relations\n                      . New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1883, p.428. See also Russell I. Mysophobia.\n                      The Alienist & Neurologist\n                      1880; 1: 529\u2013533; and Clevenger SV. Mysophobia: reprinted from the Western Medical Reporter.\n                      British Journal of Psychiatry\n                      1896; 42: 387\u2013388."},{"key":"bibr3-0967772017749690","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Berrios GE. Julius Donath\u2019s \u2018Our knowledge of anancasm\u2019 (psychic compulsive states).\n                      History of Psychiatry\n                      2003; 14: 113\u2013128, 114 (a reprinting of Donath\u2019s 1897 paper translated by John Hoenig, with an introduction by Berrios).","DOI":"10.1177\/0957154X03014001007"},{"key":"bibr4-0967772017749690","unstructured":"See citations throughout this article. Also see Jakes I.\n                      Theoretical approaches to obsessive-compulsive disorder\n                      . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996."},{"key":"bibr5-0967772017749690","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.7208\/chicago\/9780226137797.001.0001"},{"key":"#cr-split#-bibr6-0967772017749690.1","unstructured":"See Berrios GE. Obsessive-compulsive disorder. In: Berrios GE and Porter R (eds) The history of clinical psychiatry. New York: New York University Press, 1995, pp.573-592"},{"key":"#cr-split#-bibr6-0967772017749690.2","unstructured":"Alvarenga P, et\u00a0al. Obsessive-compulsive disorder: a historical overview. In: Storch E, et\u00a0al. (eds) Handbook of child and adolescent obsessive-compulsive disorder. Mahway, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2007, pp.1-15."},{"key":"bibr7-0967772017749690","unstructured":"On patients having more than one of these seemingly diverse symptoms simultaneously or in succession, see Legrand du Saulle H. La Folie du Doute avec D\u00e9lire de Toucher (originally 1875), Stone MH, trans., In: Stein DJ and Stone MH (eds)\n                      Essential papers on obsessive-compulsive disorder\n                      . New York: New York University Press, 1997, pp.24\u201329; Bramwell JM. On imperative ideas.\n                      Brain: A Journal of Neurology\n                      1895; 18: 331\u2013351. On this being a signature characteristic of the illness, see Rettew DC, et\u00a0al. Obsessions and compulsions across time in 79 children and adolescents with obsessive-compulsive disorder.\n                      Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry\n                      1992; 31: 1050\u20131056; Mataix-Cols D, et\u00a0al. Symptom stability in adult obsessive-compulsive disorder: data from a naturalistic two-year follow-up study.\n                      American Journal of Psychiatry\n                      2002; 159: 263\u2013268."},{"key":"bibr8-0967772017749690","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Berrios.\n                      The history of mental symptoms\n                      , 151; Berrios GE. Obsessive-compulsive disorder: its conceptual history in France during the 19th century.\n                      Comprehensive Psychiatry\n                      1989; 30: 283\u2013295, 292; May-Tolzmann U. Obsessional neurosis: a nosographic innovation by Freud.\n                      History of Psychiatry\n                      1998; 9: 335\u2013353.","DOI":"10.1016\/0010-440X(89)90052-7"},{"key":"bibr9-0967772017749690","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/brain\/17.2.179"},{"key":"bibr10-0967772017749690","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Bramwell. On imperative ideas; Jackson JH. On imperative ideas.\n                      Brain: A Journal of Neurology\n                      1895; 18: 318\u2013322; Savage GH. On imperative ideas.\n                      Brain: A Journal of Neurology\n                      1895; 18: 322\u2013327.","DOI":"10.1093\/brain\/18.2-3.318"},{"key":"bibr11-0967772017749690","unstructured":"May-Tolzmann. Obsessional neurosis: a nosographic innovation; Berrios GE. Obsessional disorders during the nineteenth century: terminological and classificatory issues. In: Bynum WF, et\u00a0al. (eds)\n                      The anatomy of madness: essays in the history of psychiatry\n                      . London: Tavistock, 1985, pp.167\u2013187, 170\u2013176."},{"key":"bibr12-0967772017749690","unstructured":"Hammond.\n                      Treatise on insanity\n                      , 430. See also Osborn I.\n                      Tormenting thoughts and secret rituals: the hidden epidemic of obsessive-compulsive disorder\n                      . New York: Dell Publishing, 1998, p.226."},{"key":"bibr13-0967772017749690","unstructured":"Berrios.\n                      The history of mental symptoms\n                      ; Berrios. Obsessive-compulsive disorder: its conceptual history in France; May-Tolzmann. Obsessional neurosis: a nosographic innovation."},{"key":"bibr14-0967772017749690","unstructured":"Barnes G. Morning fire destroys Winchendon house [former site of Dr Russell\u2019s hospital],\n                      Telegram & Gazette (Worcester, Massachusetts)\n                      , 31 December 2013, retrieved from http:\/\/telegram.com."},{"key":"bibr15-0967772017749690","volume":"1","author":"Russell","year":"1880","journal-title":"The Alienist & Neurologist"},{"key":"bibr16-0967772017749690","unstructured":"Russell I. Mysophobia. 530\u2013532."},{"key":"bibr17-0967772017749690","unstructured":"Alexander A. Thoughts on religious experience, Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Publication, 1844, pp. 185\u2013186."},{"key":"bibr18-0967772017749690","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Alexander.\n                      Thoughts on religious experience\n                      , 185. On the importance of viewing autobiographical accounts of obsessive religiosity in context, see Cefalu P. The doubting disease: religious scrupulosity and obsessive-compulsive disorder in historical context.\n                      Journal of Medical Humanities\n                      2010; 31: 111\u2013125.","DOI":"10.1007\/s10912-010-9107-3"},{"key":"bibr19-0967772017749690","unstructured":"See, e.g., Baer L.\n                      The imp of the mind: exploring the silent epidemic of obsessive bad thoughts.\n                      New York: Penguin Group, 2001."},{"key":"bibr20-0967772017749690","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Faber FW.\n                      Growth in holiness or, the progress of the spiritual life.\n                      Baltimore: Murphy & Co., 1864, p.307. See also Bourke J. Divine madness: the dilemma of religious scruples in twentieth-century America and Britain.\n                      Journal of Social History\n                      2009; 42: 581\u2013603, 586.","DOI":"10.1353\/jsh.0.0152"},{"key":"bibr21-0967772017749690","unstructured":"See (1) Gearon PJ.\n                      Scruples: words of consolation, with a letter from his holiness pope Pius XI\n                      . 4th ed. London: Burns, Oates, Washbourne, 1933 (first published in 1925); (2) Mullen JJ.\n                      Psychological factors in the pastoral treatment of scruples\n                      . Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins Co., 1927; (3) O\u2019Keeffe WR.\n                      Scruples: how to avoid them\n                      . Dublin: Catholic Truth Society of Ireland, 1943; (4) Casey D.\n                      The nature and treatment of scruples: a guide for directors of souls.\n                      Westminster, Maryland: The Newman Press, 1948; (5) de Saint-Laurent CR.\n                      Scruples and how to overcome them: the cause of overscrupulousness and its remedy\n                      . Dublin: Aubanel, 1952; and (6) O\u2019Flaherty VM.\n                      How to cure scruples\n                      . Milwaukee: Bruce Publishing Co., 1966."},{"key":"bibr22-0967772017749690","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Bourke J. Divine madness: the dilemma of religious scruples in twentieth-century America and Britain.\n                      Journal of Social History\n                      2009; 42: 581\u2013603, 597. See also Rubin JH.\n                      Religious melancholy and protestant experience in America\n                      . New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.","DOI":"10.1353\/jsh\/42.3.581"},{"key":"bibr23-0967772017749690","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Van Megen H, den Boer-Wolters D and Verhagen P. Obsessive compulsive disorder and religion: a reconnaissance. In: Verhagen P, et\u00a0al. (eds)\n                      Religion and psychiatry: beyond boundaries.\n                      West Sussex, UK: John Wiley & Sons, 2010, 271\u2013282, 273\u2013275. See also Fontenelle LF, et\u00a0al. Trans-cultural aspects of obsessive-compulsive disorder: a description of a Brazilian sample and a systematic review of international clinical studies.\n                      Journal of Psychiatric Research\n                      2004; 38: 403\u2013411; Abramowitz JS, et\u00a0al. Association between Protestant religiosity and obsessive-compulsive symptoms and cognitions.\n                      Depression and Anxiety\n                      2004; 20: 70\u201376.","DOI":"10.1002\/da.20021"},{"key":"bibr24-0967772017749690","unstructured":"Van Megen, et\u00a0al. Obsessive compulsive disorder and religion: a reconnaissance, 274."},{"key":"bibr25-0967772017749690","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s11920-010-0127-5"},{"key":"bibr26-0967772017749690","unstructured":"Greenberg, Huppert. Scrupulosity: a unique subtype of obsessive-compulsive disorder. 288\u2013288."},{"key":"bibr27-0967772017749690","unstructured":"On mental disorders being able to manifest themselves differently from one historical era to another, see Horwitz AV.\n                      Anxiety: a short history\n                      . Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013, pp.3\u20136; Shorter E.\n                      From paralysis to fatigue: a history of psychosomatic illness in the Modern Era\n                      . New York: Free Press, 1992."},{"key":"bibr28-0967772017749690","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Greenacre P. A study of the mechanism of obsessive-compulsive conditions.\n                      American Journal of Psychiatry\n                      1923; 2: 527\u2013538, 527. On the influence of Freud\u2019s and Janet\u2019s views of obsessional disorder during this time period, see also Alvarenga et\u00a0al. Obsessive-compulsive disorder: a historical overview; Pitman R. Historical considerations. In: Zohar J, et\u00a0al. (eds)\n                      The psychobiology of obsessive-compulsive disorder\n                      . New York: Springer, 1991, pp.1\u201312. And see Horwitz.\n                      Anxiety: a short history\n                      , 71\u201381.","DOI":"10.1176\/ajp.79.4.527"},{"key":"bibr29-0967772017749690","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Janet P.\n                      Les Obsessions et la Psychasth\u00e9nie\n                      . Paris: Alcan, 1903, reprinted in New York: Arno, 1976, p.555. See also Pitman. Historical considerations, 4; Pitman R. Janet\u2019s\n                      Obsessions and Psychasthenia\n                      : a synopsis,\n                      Psychiatric Quarterly\n                      1984; 56: 291\u2013315; Shamdasani S. Claire, Lise, Jean, Nadia, and Gis\u00e8le: preliminary notes towards a characterization of Pierre Janet\u2019s psychasthenia. In: Gijswijt-Hofstra M and Porter R (eds)\n                      Cultures of neurasthenia: from Beard to the First World War\n                      . New York: Rodopi, 2001, pp.363\u2013385.","DOI":"10.1163\/9789004333406_018"},{"key":"bibr30-0967772017749690","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Greenacre. A study of the mechanism of obsessive-compulsive conditions, 527.","DOI":"10.1176\/ajp.79.4.527"},{"key":"bibr31-0967772017749690","unstructured":"Stein DJ and Stone MH (eds)\n                      Essential papers on obsessive-compulsive disorder\n                      . New York: New York University Press, 1997; Dolnick E.\n                      Madness on the couch: blaming the victim in the heyday of psychoanalysis\n                      . New York: Simon & Schuster, 1998."},{"key":"bibr32-0967772017749690","unstructured":"Horwitz.\n                      Anxiety: a short history\n                      , 91."},{"key":"bibr33-0967772017749690","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/21674086.1938.11925343"},{"key":"bibr34-0967772017749690","unstructured":"Goldman. A case of compulsive handwashing. 104, 113."},{"key":"bibr35-0967772017749690","unstructured":"George S. Goldman Obituary (2008, November 14).\n                      The New York Times\n                      . Retrieved from http:\/\/legacy.com; Stein and Stone.\n                      Essential papers on obsessive-compulsive disorder\n                      ."},{"key":"bibr36-0967772017749690","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Korson SM. The successful treatment of an obsessive compulsive neurosis with narcosynthesis followed by daily electro-shocks.\n                      Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease\n                      1949; 109: 37\u201341. On ECT\u2019s use in treating obsessional disorder during this general time frame, see Grimshaw L. The outcome of obsessional disorder: a follow-up study of 100 cases.\n                      British Journal of Psychiatry\n                      1965; 111: 1051\u20131056; Fontenelle LF, et\u00a0al. Electroconvulsive therapy for obsessive-compulsive disorder: a systematic review.\n                      Journal of Clinical Psychiatry\n                      2015; 76: 949\u2013957.","DOI":"10.1097\/00005053-194901000-00004"},{"key":"bibr37-0967772017749690","unstructured":"Korson. The successful treatment of an obsessive compulsive neurosis, 40."},{"key":"bibr38-0967772017749690","volume":"260","author":"Rapoport JL","year":"1988","journal-title":"Journal of the American Medical Association"},{"key":"bibr39-0967772017749690","unstructured":"Fontenelle, et\u00a0al. Electroconvulsive therapy for obsessive-compulsive disorder: a systematic review."},{"key":"bibr40-0967772017749690","unstructured":"Lewis A.\n                      Inquiries in psychiatry: clinical and social investigations.\n                      London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1967, p.157 (reprinting a 1957 article he wrote)."},{"key":"bibr41-0967772017749690","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Rachman SJ. Psychological treatment of anxiety: the evolution of behavior therapy and cognitive behavior therapy.\n                      Annual Review of Clinical Psychology\n                      2009; 5: 97\u2013119; Stein and Stone,\n                      Essential Papers on Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder\n                      .","DOI":"10.1146\/annurev.clinpsy.032408.153635"}],"container-title":["Journal of Medical Biography"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/0967772017749690","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/full-xml\/10.1177\/0967772017749690","content-type":"application\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/0967772017749690","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,29]],"date-time":"2026-04-29T23:25:22Z","timestamp":1777505122000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.1177\/0967772017749690"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2018,3,9]]},"references-count":42,"journal-issue":{"issue":"2","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2018,5]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1177\/0967772017749690"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/0967772017749690","relation":{},"ISSN":["0967-7720","1758-1087"],"issn-type":[{"value":"0967-7720","type":"print"},{"value":"1758-1087","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2018,3,9]]}}}