Maloney, Beth Alison

Beth Maloney describes how she, with the help of two cutting-edge doctors, helped her son Sammy, who had been diagnosed with OCD and Tourette syndrome, overcome his mental illness and return to normal life.

The summer before entering sixth grade, Sammy, who was bright and inquisitive, suddenly began to exhibit disturbing behavior. He walked with his eyes shut, refused to bathe, and used his limbs instead of his hands to touch doorknobs and faucets. Diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive behavior (OCD), and later Tourette's Syndrome, Sammy slipped further from reality. But his mother refused to accept the diagnosis and her research took her to the medical community's raging debate whether mental illness can be caused by infection.