Understanding Scrupulosity: Questions, Help, and Encouragement

Many people, at one time or another, struggle with faith issues about sin, guilt, punishment, and hell. But a large segment of the population, many of them Catholic, are so afraid of sin that their lives are marked with anxiety and fear. These people suffer from an affliction called "scrupulosity." Rather than experiencing faith as a source of peace, scrupulous individuals can't seem to shake their feelings of impending doom, disappointment, and eventual condemnation. Based on thirty-five years of questions and answers to the "Scrupulous Anonymous" newsletter and compiled by the director of Scrupulous Anonymous, this revised edition of "Understanding Scrupulosity: Questions, Helps, and Encouragements"-besides providing answers to questions and concerns related to sin, confession, self-worth, sexuality, prayer, God's forgiveness, thoughts, dreams, and fantasies-offers two wholly new chapters that treat considerations important for discerning impulses and for achieving peace of mind in the day-to-day struggle with scrupulosity. "Understanding Scrupulosity" is a welcoming and pastorally sensitive book for those who suffer from this affliction and-just as important-for the people who counsel them, professionally and/or pastorally.