Howard Hughes was dining with actress Jane Greer at Ciro’s on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles one evening in 1947. At one point in the meal, he excused himself to go to the rest room. To Greer’s amazement, he did not return for an hour and a half. When he finally reappeared, she was astonished to see that he was soaking wet from head to toe.
“What on earth happened to you?” she asked. “Well,” Hughes said, “I spilled some catsup on my shirt and pants and had to wash them out in the sink.” He then let them dry for a while, hanging them over one of the toilet stalls. Once he put his clothes back on, he explained, “I couldn’t leave the bathroom because I couldn’t touch the door handle. I had to wait for someone to come in.”
According to Peter H. Brown, coauthor with Pat Broeske of Howard Hughes: The Untold Story, Jane Greer never went out with Hughes again.
Howard Hughes was eccentric, certainly, but he was not a freak. He was suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), a classic and severe case. By the end of his life, in 1976, he was overwhelmed by the disease. He spent his last days in isolation in his top-floor suite at the Princess Hotel in Acapulco, where he had sealed himself in a hospital-like atmosphere, terrified of germs. Blackout curtains at every window kept all sunlight out; the sun, he thought, might transmit the germs he so dreaded. Aides with facial tissues covering their hands brought him food, which had to be precisely cut and measured.
Rumors abounded that he was this reclusive because of drug abuse, a syphilitic condition, or terminal dementia. Actually, all his strange behaviors are readily understandable as symptoms of a severe case of OCD.
Sadly, there was no treatment for OCD in Howard Hughes’s lifetime. It would be another decade before the disease would be identified as a brain-related disorder.
I frequently cite the case of Howard Hughes to help my patients understand that this disease, OCD, is an insatiable monster. The more you give in, the hungrier it gets. Even Hughes, with all his millions—and a retinue of servants to perform the bizarre rituals his OCD told him to perform—could not buy his way out. Eventually, the false messages coming from his brain overwhelmed him.
If you are one of many who suffer from OCD, whether it is a mild case or one as severe as Howard Hughes’s, this book will show you how to fight and beat it. OCD is a tenacious enemy, but a strong-willed, motivated person can overcome it.
Along the way, you will also learn a good deal about your brain and how you can control it better. You will read the stories of courageous people who, by applying the Four-Step Method, learned how to overcome the dreaded feelings of “Brain Lock” that are caused by OCD. This method, which has been scientifically demonstrated to enable people to change their own brain function, will be described in such a way that you can readily apply it yourself.