Orson Scott Card's Xenocide

Orson Scott Card is a genius in the fact an entire story was dedicated, perhaps unintentionally, to the correlation between OCD and religion. In the story of Xenocide, written by Card, there is an entire planet dedicated to an unnamed religion whose gods are people the inhabitants chose from history. Path1, the name of the planet, is home to the Godspoken. the Godspoken2 are individuals who are said to hear the voices of the Gods. Han Qing-Jao (Qing-Jao) is the most devoted to the religion that the Godspoken people belong to. Qing-Jao is the best example of the connection between OCD and religion that is shown in the story, and she covers many of the aspects of religious OCD (scrupulosity) that have been stated by the website Intrustivethoughts.org.

In the study they found that all subjects had properties that were similar, if not near identical, to those who OCD. The National Institute of Mental Health has a list of all known symptoms of OCD: A few are a fear of germs, a fear of forbidden thoughts, excessive hand washing, compulsive counting, performing rituals to feel momentary relief from stress brought by OCD, and general interference with daily life because of the conditions. OCD is also a genetic trait that has a high chance to be passed down to offspring. In the story both of Qing-Jao’s parents were godspoken, and she was too. It was common for Godspoken parents to have Godspoken offspring, and all of the Godspoken have one sign above all the rest that signifies that they are being spoken to. This is compulsive hand washing, a clear sign of OCD. A fictional document was stated in Xenocide known as “Catalogue of the voices of the gods” (51) has a list of all the ways the Godspoken have performed their acts of Penance, and many of them align with regular OCD as well as

A PDF document published by the International OCD Foundation states that those who are affected by Scrupulosity require constant reassurance of their holiness in the eyes of their god(s) and their family. Qing Jao’s father is a figure of the world of Path’s true holiness. He was nominated to be one of the next Gods of Path, a title that would be given to him after his death. One of the most major parts of his Godhood would be Qing Jao solving a crisis that no wiseman could at the time. This put pressure on her to please her father with being the one person able to solve the greatest mystery of her era, and it also put pressure on her to please the Gods so that they may allow her father as one of the Gods after his nomination was complete. Whenever she was was in her father’s presence she dared not say any blasphemous words, or do any blasphemous action. If she did it would require immediate penance. Her actions corresponds with people affected by scrupulosity. The article “Understanding Religious OCD” published by the Child Mind Institute states that anyone affected by this form of OCD are most likely to perform a single prayer time and time again to ensure that they made no errors, and this ensures that they reap no negative consequences from performing them wrong. In the article Dr. Bubrik describes treating a twelve year old child who