EXTRA CONTENT: Corbin native recounts life-long struggles with OCD, alcoholism in recent book

To read the introduction and opening chapters, click here.

A Corbin native’s lifelong struggles with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and his slide into alcoholism because of the illness, are the subject of a candid autobiography that is making waves in both secular and Christian media.

Randall Baird said he wrote "Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: Alcoholism and Redemption" after a few members of his church encouraged him to do so. Baird, who now lives in Hamilton, OH, said he just sat down to write in 2007 with no real direction or intent.

"I really didn’t know. I just started out writing," he said. "I just thought I’m going to make this as autobiographical as I can."
At first Baird, who is now 63, didn’t really focus much on his problems with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) – a mental illness "characterized by intrusive thoughts that produce anxiety or repetitive behaviors (compulsions) aimed at reducing anxiety."

It is the fourth most commonly diagnosed mental disorder in the U.S. and is thought to affect about one in every 50 Americans. It commonly manifests itself in paranoid behaviors like excessive hand washing or hoarding. Those with the disorder often recognize their actions as irrational, which can compound the anxiety and shame associated with the disorder.

Baird, who was born in Corbin but moved extensively with his family throughout his childhood, said his first memory of any sort of problem with OCD relates back to when he was a 12-year-old seventh grader.

"I had a teacher that was talking about how worry could drive you insane," he said. "For some reason, I made some connection that the only way I could go to Heaven is to go crazy. It was really silly and it makes no sense today, but that was my concern and I was controlled by it."

For much of his life, Baird said he could handle many of the everyday things others worry about fine. But it was off-the-wall concerns over the most unlikely problems that would consume his thoughts.

"I would imagine that I ran over someone in the parking lot or left an appliance on … Whatever you can imagine, I worried about it," he said. "Everybody wants to know if they have it and, truthfully, everybody is maybe a one or a two on the OCD scale. It doesn’t really affect what you produce or how you sleep at night. It’s more of a quirk. But for me, on a scale of 1-10, I’m a 10."

Baird says he slept very little for years because of the constant, agonizing worry he suffered because of the disorder. He said he was a poor student in school and his grades suffered because of it. He barely graduated from high school.

His parents recognized something was wrong with their son, and took him to a couple of doctors when he was young.

"Back then, they knew sort of what it was, but there was no medication for it and nothing they could do about it. You just had to deal with it," he said. "It affected everything I did. I was just miserable. I was suffering and nobody knew it."

In his book, Baird describes turning to alcohol at an early age to drown the problem. The effects of drowning his OCD in booze were nearly devastating.

After high school, he got a job with Ford Motor Company as an assembly worker. In 1967, he joined the U.S. Air Force. During his four-year military stint, he was physically able to handle any job or task. But mentally, his combination of OCD and alcoholism caused him to stall out at a fairly low rank.

While in the Air Force, he was in one near-fatal car accident, and a few others that were exacerbated by his drinking. He served a 30-day stint in military jail when he went AWOL to visit a friend in Sacramento, Calif.

Baird said he got so good at hiding the problem that he successfully able to fool friends and some family.

A pre-marital focus on physical fitness helped him deal with alcoholism and OCD for a time, but it wasn’t until his wife and children encouraged him to seek help that he began to turn the corner. He’s been married to his wife, Connie, for 33 years. He has a 27-year-old son, Justin, and Megan, a 25-year-old daughter.

Baird became a Christian when he was 33-years-old. He said that decision has helped him deal, mainly, with his drinking problem. He hasn’t consumed a drop of alcohol since 1975.

"I think it’s kept me from drinking. I still to this day want to drink but the only reason I am sober is because of Christ."
But battling OCD has remained a problem. He now takes medication that only began being used to treat OCD relatively recently – Fluvoxamine. Instead of being a 10 on the scale, he says he’s now only a four. He says the love of his family, including his brother, Greg, a family physician who died at the age of 46, has helped him through the hard times.

"It’s stayed with me," Baird said. "But I don’t worry as much anymore. Writing the book has been very therapeutic for me … It’s really a Christian book with secular aspects to it. It’s for Christians and for those dealing with OCD and for people who have other problems. Problems don’t go away because you are a Christian. Life is not a bed of roses. The emotional scars stay with you."

"I wrote this book to encourage people that if they have this problem, they need to talk to people about it. You need to be open about it. If it allows them to look at themselves and know they are not alone, then it was worth it. For while, I thought I was the only person in the world suffering from this."

Baird will be in Corbin at Gibson’s Music, September 3, 4 and 5 for a book signing and to chat with local residents.
The book can be purchased through www.amazon.com, www.barnesandnoble.com or directly from the publisher at www.xlibris.com.