Devil in the Details Book Review The book Devil in the Details was written to inform readers on what it’s like to have a mental disorder and how it affects someone’s life. Jennifer Traig grew up struggling with scrupulosity. Scrupulosity is a form of OCD in which the sufferer obsesses over minute details in their actions often relating to religion. As she grew up the severity of it would be at different levels. It affected her physically and mentally and also affected the people around her. After going to college, hoewever, she found her scrupulosity to be gone and went on to be a writer. She wrote books describing Judaism and a few crafting books for children; however, her most well known book is her autobiography: Devil in the Details.
…show more content…
They agreed to raise Jennifer and her sister Vicky Jewish and sent them to a Jewish school. Although no one else in her family was very involved in religion, Jennifer was intrigued by Judaism as was her scrupulosity. She showed minor signs of OCD in her early childhood but they soon disappeared. As she got older and got more involved with religion, her OCD reappeared. It caused her to do odd things and rethink every small thing she did. She says that, “Scrupulosity is sometimes called the doubting disease, because it forces you to question everything. Anything you do or say or wear or hear or eat or think, you examine in excruciatingly minute detail.”(Traig 5) She often found herself being forced to do things such as wash her hands up to fifty times a day and wash her clothes for no reason other than she thought they were all contaminated. She was not concerned with larger and more important Jewish commandments but obsessed over small and insignificant rules. Not only did she strictly follow these rules but also misinterpreted them and took them to an extreme. For example, she fed the cat and dog before every snack, meal, and even glass of water because in the Bible it commands that people should feed their livestock before they feed themselves. She didn’t want to do these things knowing that they unreasonable but she decided her OCD flares as feeling …show more content…
I am not familiar with OCD because i don't know anyone who has it and furthermore I am unfamiliar with scrupulosity. I feel as if society is also unfamiliar disease. A common phrase that is used is being “OCD” about something which is very insensitive. Having OCD is more than being a neat freak or liking things a certain way. It is paying attention to every minor detail in life and not liking things a certain way but requiring them to be that way. It causes people to do things they would never normally do if they did not have that disorder. It is a much larger problem then society makes it out to be and although it is not as common as other mental disorders like depression and anxiety, it is just as painful and just as serious. We as society should be more understanding towards people with OCD and scrupulosity. Which is another thing I have learned. I was not aware that there were different types of OCD. I did now that some people's OCD was more extreme than others just like any other mental disorder but I now know that there are also different types.
Devil in the Details is a well written and funny memoir that describes the struggles of having the severe form of OCD, scrupulosity. It gives the reader a different perspective on what it's like to have a less common mental disorder and how that affects Jennifer Traig’s life. I don’t usually enjoy nonfiction literature, but this book was not only an informational read but an enjoyable
They agreed to raise Jennifer and her sister Vicky Jewish and sent them to a Jewish school. Although no one else in her family was very involved in religion, Jennifer was intrigued by Judaism as was her scrupulosity. She showed minor signs of OCD in her early childhood but they soon disappeared. As she got older and got more involved with religion, her OCD reappeared. It caused her to do odd things and rethink every small thing she did. She says that, “Scrupulosity is sometimes called the doubting disease, because it forces you to question everything. Anything you do or say or wear or hear or eat or think, you examine in excruciatingly minute detail.”(Traig 5) She often found herself being forced to do things such as wash her hands up to fifty times a day and wash her clothes for no reason other than she thought they were all contaminated. She was not concerned with larger and more important Jewish commandments but obsessed over small and insignificant rules. Not only did she strictly follow these rules but also misinterpreted them and took them to an extreme. For example, she fed the cat and dog before every snack, meal, and even glass of water because in the Bible it commands that people should feed their livestock before they feed themselves. She didn’t want to do these things knowing that they unreasonable but she decided her OCD flares as feeling …show more content…
I am not familiar with OCD because i don't know anyone who has it and furthermore I am unfamiliar with scrupulosity. I feel as if society is also unfamiliar disease. A common phrase that is used is being “OCD” about something which is very insensitive. Having OCD is more than being a neat freak or liking things a certain way. It is paying attention to every minor detail in life and not liking things a certain way but requiring them to be that way. It causes people to do things they would never normally do if they did not have that disorder. It is a much larger problem then society makes it out to be and although it is not as common as other mental disorders like depression and anxiety, it is just as painful and just as serious. We as society should be more understanding towards people with OCD and scrupulosity. Which is another thing I have learned. I was not aware that there were different types of OCD. I did now that some people's OCD was more extreme than others just like any other mental disorder but I now know that there are also different types.
Devil in the Details is a well written and funny memoir that describes the struggles of having the severe form of OCD, scrupulosity. It gives the reader a different perspective on what it's like to have a less common mental disorder and how that affects Jennifer Traig’s life. I don’t usually enjoy nonfiction literature, but this book was not only an informational read but an enjoyable