Judith Rapoport, the psychiatrist who brought obsessive-compulsive disorder to light, leaves us.

Judith Livan Rapoport, American psychiatrist who played a crucial role in bringing obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), a condition that was long underrecognized and often hidden, to public and scientific attention, has died in Washington at the age of 92 due to complications from lung cancer. The news of her passing, which occurred on March 7, was published today by the Washington Post.

The disorder, characterized by intrusive thoughts and repetitive behaviors - such as compulsively washing, checking locks, or counting objects - has also been associated, according to historians, with figures from the past like Samuel Johnson and entrepreneur Howard Hughes. However, until the end of the 20th century, the condition was poorly understood by the general public, the American newspaper writes. The turning point came in 1989 with the publication of the book "The Boy Who Couldn't Stop Washing and Other Stories of OCD" (Publisher Bollati Boringhieri, 1994) by Rapoport, which became an international bestseller. The work, written in accessible language and with great empathy, narrated clinical cases of children and adults affected by OCD, helping to reduce stigma and raise awareness of the existence of effective therapies, based on behavioral and pharmacological approaches.

“Judith Rapoport brought this disorder to light in the United States and around the world,” said John Walkup, president of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. In the book, inspired also by the work of neurologist Oliver Sacks and his "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat", Rapoport described patients defined as “tormented souls”. Among them was a boy who spent hours every day in the shower or individuals compelled to repeatedly check doors and lights, up to one hundred times.

After a television segment dedicated to the book, hundreds of thousands of parents contacted health authorities fearing that their children might suffer from the disorder. The episode helped demonstrate how much more widespread OCD was than previously thought: Rapoport estimated millions of cases in the United States, many of which were undiagnosed.

Throughout her career at the National Institute of Mental Health, lasting over four decades, the psychiatrist treated nearly a thousand young patients and led groundbreaking research. Among these was a clinical study in the 1980s that demonstrated the effectiveness of clomipramine in treating OCD in children, paving the way for its approval by regulatory authorities.

Rapoport also contributed to the development of modern child psychiatry, promoting an approach based on neuroscience and scientific evidence. Her research also extended to attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and early-onset schizophrenia.

Born in New York on July 12, 1933, Judith Livan Rapoport trained at Harvard Medical School at a time when women were a minority in the medical field. Throughout her career, she also faced gender biases, yet managed to establish herself as one of the most influential figures in the field.