A fear of contamination drives the most common manifestation of obsessive compulsive disorders(OCD), compulsive washing. OCD is a distressing anxiety disorder that affects 1-2 percent of the population and can be disabling. Intense and complex forms of the disorder benefit from advanced analyses of contamination and its treatment. This book, part of a series on modern psychological treatments published by OUP, provides a detailed account of the nature and causes of the various forms of a fear of contamination and their consequences. Methods of treatment are described and fully illustrated by c