Fun With Fred

Who's Fred? He's invisible, but appallingly powerful. He's never drawn breath, but he refuses to leave. He's a jerk.

Fred is what Leslie Robinson calls both her obsessive-compulsive disorder and her hoarding disorder. Robinson lays out the myriad ways Fred has impacted her life, from complicating her relationships to sabotaging her journalism career. She recounts failing spectacularly at denying and minimizing Fred's existence. She delves into her mixed experiences with therapy, medication and support groups. After decades of Fred living in Robinson's head, she reports that the two have achieved an uneasy peace-although she's tempted to blow that up by charging Fred years of back rent.