Obsessive, Intrusive, Magical Thinking: A Life Lived Obsessively

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Obsessive, Intrusive, Magical Thinking is a culmination of a life spend obsessing, offering a glimpse into Marianne's brain, but also an insight into the lives of others like her. This book follows the fixations she has had throughout her life, stemming from a love for Disney and the whimsy a day at Disneyland can bring to an intense fear of death, tales of Medusa and the ocean. It indicates a subjectivity, rather than just a diagnosis, which is no less valuable than other types of brain functioning. great to read about these moments in more depth, particularly as Marianne is now able to reflect on them slightly differently now that she has a label for a lot of her feelings and behaviours. I found a lot of things to relate but mostly what struck me is how different neurodivergent brains manifest and how the way we grow up shapes the experience again.

a really good portrayal of neurodiversity in an entertaining and enjoyable way' * Eleanor, NetGalley * Lyrical, often funny, . At the same time it is extremely entertaining - I particularly loved the descriptions of her travels and experiences in LA. I have so much respect for author being able to open herself up in such a way and I think that this book will be so helpful for so many people because it can show them they are not alone and are deserving of help. I've noticed that people often comment on memoirs by neurodivergent women with shit like "i don't get it/it seems self-indulgent/melodramatic/doesn't make sense/is repetitive/just a lot" And I'm like.She covers topics like TV, film, digital culture, neurodiversity, wellness and alternative music, for outlets including The Cut, the New York Times , Courier , Vulture , i-D , Guardian and more.

That said, I was surprised by how well she made such niche, personal, specific experiences feel relatable and general. Presumably informed by Baudrillard, Marianne Eloise reads the manicured joys of Disneyland’s “picture-perfect, pastel world” in three ways: as a source of obsession; a space for healing; and a site designed in its “DNA” to defer the fear of death. I enjoyed the fact it wasn't all gloomy - her obsessions make her incredibly anxious, but they also make her very focused and determined to follow the healthier ones.Would I sometimes like to soften my sensory processing issues, wear anything other than cotton without having a screaming fit? I FELT RECOGNISED ON EVERY PAGE, LEARNT SO MANY NEW THINGS, AND LAUGHED SO HARD I CHOKED ON MY WATER. This collection of essays gives the reader great insight into the author's experience of autism and OCD. While I couldn't relate to every one of her experiences, it was moving to read a deeply honest account of how it feels when your brain and body feels like it's working against you. Tenses would abruptly change for no reason, same or similarly-worded context would be reiterated multiple times throughout a piece, and, although stronger at the beginning, depictions of her conditions were 'told-not-shown' in rambling, disorganized lists (and not in a meta-mania way, which would have been really cool - like, take us inside!

Having OCD myself I was hoping this book would offer some useful information on the subject however this is a series of personal articles on the author’s condition and with autism. Obsessive, Intrusive, Magical Thinking is a culmination of a life spent obsessing, offering a glimpse into Marianne's brain, but also an insight into the lives of others like her. Although, there were quite a few phrases that I felt were very 'internet' terms that I wasn't a huge fan of.I felt crushed that she would think I wanted a cure for the person that I had always understood myself as.

The author paints a picture of herself as a complicated and extremely anxious person who obsessively loves and worries about her dog, takes weeks to pack for trips because of the crippling fear that she’ll forget something, is extremely socially anxious and nervous, is constantly in debilitating pain (none of which I’m disputing btw, not that I could or would want to anyway), and yet she somehow manages to travel the world almost incessantly (without her dog), hobnob with celebrities and bucketloads of friends, run marathons, and drown out the intrusive thoughts. Its tacky shorthands – the hand washing, the germaphobia, the clean freaks – have made their way into everything, from Buzzfeed listicles to The Big Bang Theory. I also felt that at times the essays felt somewhat disjointed when viewed as a whole - for instance, cultural references that showed up time and time again were sometimes reintroduced from scratch.When I was seeking diagnosis, I met with a different, thoughtless psychiatrist who told me: ‘a diagnosis isn’t a cure, you know’. It's within this ambivalent territory that Marianne Eloise’s debut essay collection-cum-memoir takes the stage. In her candid, witty memoir, Marianne Eloise offers a powerful account of what it is like to feel trapped by mental health problems and obsessions . The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. Whilst reading the first chapter I struggled to keep the tears from falling because I just felt so intensely seen and validated, and I must have highlighted the vast majority of every single page because the author kept hitting the nail right on its head perfectly over and over again.