The Thought that Counts A Firsthand Account of One Teenager's Experience with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder (or OCD) at age 11, Jared Douglas Kant experienced many of the most excruciating manifestations of this difficult illness: dread of deadly germs and diseases, the unrelenting need to count and check things, and a persistent, nagging doubt that overshadowed every aspect of his life.

Jared Douglas Kant overcame great obstacles to graduate at the top of his college class in 2006. Today Jared works as a Clinical Research Assistant at the Massachusetts General Hospital Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Clinic and Research Unit. He speaks frequently about his experiences with OCD at conferences and academic institutions, and he contributes to Organized Chaos, the Obsessive Compulsive Foundation's website for teens and young adults.
Martin Franklin is Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology in Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, & Clinical Director, Center for the Treatment and Study of Anxiety.
Linda Wasmer Andrews is a freelance health and psychology writer based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She is the coauthor of If Your Adolescent Has an Anxiety Disorder: An Essential Resource for Parents as well as the author or co-author of numerous other books, including Stress Control for Peach of Mind. Her writing has appeared in magazines such as Self, Parenting, and Psychology Today.