One quote that caught my attention from the book Devil in Details: Scenes From an Obsessive Girlhood was “In Judaism someone who becomes religious is called a baal tshuva—a master of repentance, or, literally, a master of returning, of circling back. I liked the name because it seemed so apt. I circled. I was a master of circling, a pacer, a ruminator, caught in my neural loops. For the next few years, I would circle back to scrupulosity, then back to sanity, then back and forth again. Eventually I ended up sane but religious, baal tshuva in the ordinary sense" (Traig 45). While Traig may not even have known about her disorder, she knew and began to realize just how crazy she sounded with her obsessive activities and needs, such as having to wash her hands fifty times before eating her dinner. Her parents soon began to clearly see her problem as well, being just as more confused and hopeful to stop it. One solution they came up with was the contract they had made, which limited her from her needs and over to do everyday tasks, including washing her hands too many times or putting her head on the floor and praying way too much. If she were to break any of the rules from the contract, her sister had the right to tell her friends about the problem Traig had, having the easy opportunity to embarrass her. Although the contract may have helped for some time and had stopped her or limited her from doing too much of a simple task, the needs and constant doubting came back once again. The quote begins with explaining a religious term - Baal tshuva, which states the importance of repentance or someone who is able to repeat something again. With this, Traig feels as though she can connect in a way because in some way she begins to repeat the process of her obsessive tasks again. She states how it becomes a cycle for her, which might probably never leave her. She may have been free from the nagging thoughts and doubts for a while, but it came back leaving her to only question things once more. It can be seen that without the help that Traig needs, the cycle may not end, but only continue to repeat itself.
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