As an author, Teresa Toten has received many messages from young people, some of them telling wrenching stories about their struggles to cope with obsessive compulsive disorder. This along with her personal acquaintance with children growing up with OCD compelled her to write her novel The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B.
Listen“Adam is a 15-year-old boy who is a composite character,” says Toten. “I stole bits and pieces of him from a lot of young people I care about deeply.” We meet the protagonist as he is falling in love during a group therapy session for young people who have obsessive compulsive disorder and crippling anxiety disorder.
‘A considerable burden…but invisible’
“When we meet him, he is actually not that bad,” says Toten. “It’s a problem like so many OCD sufferers have, but they can get through their lives. It’s a considerable burden, but it’s an invisible one.
“So he counts obsessively. He has problems with numbers, let’s say odd numbers versus even numbers. He becomes trapped in a pattern of repetitive thoughts and behaviors that are senseless and distressing but extremely difficult to overcome. He is trying to be invisible with his finger or he taps with his feet. He taps in circles. He taps counter-clockwise to ward off the evil things happening. These are things he knows in his mind are not rational, but he is compelled to do them anyway.”
Anxiety disorders plague one to two per cent of people
Between one and two per cent of Canadians suffer from anxiety disorders including OCD, according to the government health department. It describes the obsessions as “persistent, unwanted thoughts that produce intense anxiety, and the individual typically has compelling urges to perform repetitive, ritual-like behaviour(s) (i.e., compulsions) to ease and control this anxiety.”
Big research, big prizes
Toten spent a year and a half researching the condition, reading, meeting with psychiatrists, examining original research, attending an international conference and several group therapy sessions. I am constantly appalled and surprised by the amount of research that goes into fiction,” she says, laughing. “I thought fiction would be a non-research area.”
But the research paid off with the novel fetching three of Canada’s top awards and nominated for others. Now the book has been translated into German and will soon be released. Other translations are planned for release in several countries.
Reducing shame, stigma, secrecy
It is fitting that so soon after World Mental Health Day on October 10th, Toten states that she hopes her novel will help remove the stigma around OCD and other mental health issues.
“Now it’s time for us to finally bat away the shame, stigma, secrecy, surrounding the words ‘mental illness.’ I believe the young people of today will be the last generation that have to labour under this with secrecy.”
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