By age 7, Anthony Barone was already descending into a confusing world of obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviors that would dominate his life.
As a boy, he recalled, he felt driven to do things over and over. He would obsessively run his hands across his school desk. He would constantly move his pencils and pens in and out of his desk. He would complete his schoolwork and then erase it, repeating the ritual endlessly.
He could not stop tapping, touching and counting things.
Even the promise of sleep did not offer relief. Unable to resist the urge, Barone said, he would repeatedly crawl out of bed to stroke a crucifix hanging on a dining room wall or handle other objects in the darkened room.
In part because of doctors who failed to diagnose his condition, it wasn't until Barone was 50 that he realized that he suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder, or OCD. It was 13 more years before he received effective treatment that allowed him to lead a more normal life.
Barone's experience may be extreme, but it is not entirely uncommon. People with OCD frequently struggle for years with the disorder because they do not get an accurate diagnosis or appropriate treatment.
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