From ideas of murder to irrational fears, intrusive thoughts afflict most people. But when David Adam's fear of catching HIV persisted, he developed OCD
FOR Winston Churchill, it was an urge to leap from balconies and into the path of oncoming trains. For 20th-century mathematician Kurt Godel, his bête noire was random food poisoning, from his fridge or in general – he eventually starved himself to death. And Alfred Nobel was so terrified of being buried alive that the last words of his will state: "It is my express wish that following my death my veins shall be opened, and when this has been done and competent doctors have confirmed clear signs of death, my remains shall be cremated."
Most people don't talk about strange thoughts like these, at least until psychologists take the trouble to ask. A ...
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