Stolen Child: A Mother's Journey to Rescue Her Son from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

by Laurie Gough

Overview

A year in the desperate life of a boy transformed by OCD from a bright ten-year-old into a stranger in his own skin.

Although Laurie Gough was an intrepid traveller who had explored wild, far-off reaches of the globe, the journey she and her family took in their own home in their small Quebec village proved to be far more frightening, strange, and foreign than any land she had ever visited.

It began when Gough’s son, shattered by his grandfather’s death, transformed from a bright, soccer-ball kicking ten-year-old into a near-stranger, falling into trances where his parents couldn’t reach him and performing ever-changing rituals of magical thinking designed to bring his grandpa back to life.

Stolen Child examines a horrifying year in one family’s life, the lengths the parents went to to help their son, and how they won the battle against his all-consuming disorder.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781459735934
Publisher:	Dundurn Press
Publication date:	09/10/2016
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	176
File size:	709 KB

About the Author

Laurie Gough is a Thomas Cook Travel Book Award–shortlisted author and the author of over twenty stories anthologized in literary travel books. Her work has appeared in The Guardian, The Walrus, Maclean’s, the Globe and Mail, the L.A. Times, USA Today, salon.com, the National Post, and Canadian Geographic, among others.

Laurie Gough is the author of Kiss the Sunset Pig: An American Road Trip with Exotic Detours, and Kite Strings of the Southern Cross: A Woman’s Travel Odyssey, shortlisted for the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award in the U.K., and silver medal winner of ForeWord Magazine’s Travel Book of the Year in the U.S. Over twenty of her stories have been anthologized in literary travel books; her work as appeared in The Guardian, The Walrus, Maclean’s, the Globe and Mail, the L.A. Times, USA Today, salon.com, the National Post, and Canadian Geographic, among others.

What People are Saying About This

Jim Davies

People use the term "OCD" casually, often with a snicker. But Stolen Child demonstrates beautifully the devastation that the disease can bring, and the love that a family brings to fight it. It's a heartfelt story of a family transformed by mental illness, told with compassion and honesty.

Michael Sherman

What do you do when your child is stricken down with a disorder whose cure is not at all certain? If you are a rational skeptic like Laurie Gough you research everything ever written on the disorder and apply the methods of science and reason to solve the problem, without resort to superstition or the supernatural. Stolen Child is beautifully written and emotionally evocative, but it is not just about OCD. It is about the power of reason … and love … to overcome adversity, a book that belongs among the classics of parenting.

Editorial Reviews

08/29/2016
Veteran travel writer Gough (Kite Strings of the Southern Cross) recounts a different kind of journey that began when her 10-year-old son experienced the sudden onset of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Quinn had been a healthy, carefree boy, but signs of OCD surfaced after several months of deep grief following the death of his grandfather, with whom he had been very close. Gough details behaviors and beliefs that soon made it impossible for Quinn to attend school or live as he previously had: tapping his knees and twisting his head in symmetry rituals, clenching his fists to hold magic bubbles that were essential to his obsession with winning a race at the 2024 Olympics, and other rituals he believed would bring his grandfather back to life. The family sought help from doctors, and Quinn began treatment with a type of cognitive-behavioral therapy. Gough characterizes OCD as an insatiable monster that gets hungrier the more one gives in to it. With help from family and friends, Quinn confronts this inner bully. This moving story is highly recommended as a beacon of hope for those experiencing OCD and their loved ones. Agent: Martha Webb, McDermid Agency. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

This is a book impossible to put down. It will move you to tears.

Ottawa Citizen

A journey scarier than a trip to any foreign land

Low Down to Hull & Back News

Gough’s straight ahead style is seductive. She draws you in. You stay in.

author of Angel Square and Up to Low Brian Doyle

What do you do when your child is stricken down with a disorder whose cure is not at all certain? If you are a rational skeptic like Laurie Gough you research everything ever written on the disorder and apply the methods of science and reason to solve the problem, without resorting to superstition or the supernatural. Stolen Child is beautifully written and emotionally evocative, but it is not just about OCD. It is about the power of reason … and love … to overcome adversity, a book that belongs among the classics of parenting.

Michael Shermer

This book is an outstretched hand. A gift to anyone who has sought to understand the mysterious nature of OCD and its isolating, bewildering consequences. This is a tale of tenderness and devotion, a portrait of the importance of community, and a story of surprising, unexpected, light.

author of Confessions of a Fairy's Daughter and H Alison Wearing

Gough’s straightforward and eloquent style quickly draws you into this memoir about her son’s battle with obsessive compulsive disorder. Even for those with no ties, this is a beautifully written, touchingly honest tale.

Ottawa Magazine

People use the term “OCD” casually, often with a snicker. But Stolen Child demonstrates beautifully the devastation that the disease can bring, and the love that a family brings to fight it. It's a heartfelt story of a family transformed by OCD, told with compassion and honesty.

cognitive scientist and author of Riveted Jim Davies