JAMES BAILEY SUFFERED FROM A BIZARRE AND DEBILITATING FORM OF OBSESSIVECOMPULSIVE DISORDER (OCD). HE WAS ACUTELY ANXIOUS ABOUT MIND-ALTERING DRUGS GETTING INTO HIS SYSTEM AND WARPING HIS BEHAVIOUR. PARANOID QUESTIONS WOULD ROUTINELY PLAGUE HIM. WERE PEOPLE TRYING TO SPIKE HIS FOOD? COULD HE GET HIGH JUST BY TOUCHING A PHOTOGRAPH OF A MARIJUANA LEAF? THE TREATMENT PROGRAMME HE WENT THROUGH AT A SPECIALIST AMERICAN CLINIC BROUGHT HIM FACE TO FACE WITH HIS NIGHTMARES. HE WAS ASKED TO MINGLE AND SHAKE HANDS WITH THE LOCAL JUNKIES, OVERCOMING HIS FEAR THAT WHATEVER THEY"D TAKEN WOULD BE TRANSMITTED TO HIM THROUGH THEIR SKIN. THE LONGER HE RESISTED WASHING HIS HANDS, THE BETTER HE WAS GETTING. IT IS A TESTIMONY TO BAILEY"S INDOMITABLE SPIRIT THAT HE IS NOW ABLE TO SEE THE ABSURDITY OF MANY OF THE BIZARRE SITUATIONS IN WHICH HE FOUND HIMSELF, AND THIS QUIRKY SENSE OF HUMOUR, COMBINED WITH HIS STRENGTH OF CHARACTER, HELPED HIM TO RECOVER AND GO BACK OUT TO FACE THE WORLD AGAIN. MAN, INTERRUPTED GIVES US A GLIMPSE INTO THE TORTURED WORLD OF A MAN SUFFERING FROM WHAT IS AN INCREASINGLY COMMON DISORDER. BUT FAR FROM BEING A DOOM-LADEN ACCOUNT OF MENTAL ILLNESS, THE RESULT IS UNIQUELY REVEALING, HILARIOUSLY ENTERTAINING AND WONDERFULLY REWARDING.