Granted, her and her (ex)-husband had a really unhealthy relationship and he was fulfilling the role of enabler more than anything else, but he also went to extreme lengths to make their marriage work so the fact that she jumped into bed with another man without thinking twice about it really made me mad.Īlso, this isn’t her fault or anything but it also drove me crazy that this woman refuses to try psychiatric medication for years and as soon as she finally gives in reluctantly starts taking meds her horrific OCD symptoms seem to get significantly better almost immediately. In general, one of the things about this book that kept me from enjoying it more than I might have otherwise was Emily Colas’ terrible decision making-skills, and how much they frustrated me. Just Checking is a quick read and for people who (like me) like to read memoirs about people with serious mental health problems, it’s certainly not boring either. Colas’ illness sounds like a living hell and in some ways I enjoy more comfort, if only because I’m not rubbing my hands raw obsessing about contamination and something deadly showing up in my home. I have a form of OCD known as Pure-O (and trust me, it’s no picnic) but Emily Colas’ symptoms are a lot more compulsive, so more in line with what people picture when they think a person with OCD would be like. I initially thought that Emily Colas’ choice to cut her life story into brief vignettes would make for a really cool reading experience, and although I enjoyed the format for the most part there was also something about it that made me distance myself emotionally from the subject matter. Naturally, I gravitated more toward Triggered by Fletcher Wortmann and Because We Are Bad by Lily Bailey more than I did with Just Checking, since Wortmann and Bailey both have forms of OCD which are more similar to mine. I had some serious mixed feelings about this book.
Title: Just Checking- Scenes From the Life of an Obsessive-Compulsive