The language used by obsessive-compulsives conveys their exaggerated attention to details, their air of detachment, and the difficulty they have in making a decision:
I seem to be stuck with them-the thoughts I mean.
T hey seem so unimportant and silly. Why can’t I
think about things I really want to think about? But
I can't stop thinking about trivia like did I lock the
garage door when I went to work this morning. I’ve
never not locked it and my wife’s home anyway . I get
depressed when I realize how much time I waste on
nothing .
I feel under such pressure but I can’t make a
decision. I write out on 3-by-5 cards all the pros and
cons then I study them to consider all the complications
that perhaps might bear on the decision and then I
do it again-but I never seem to be able to make up
my mind.
Obsessional thoughts often seem distasteful and
shameful. Their content generally involves harming others,
causing accidents to occur, swearing, or having
abhorrent sexual or religious idea:
Susan a quiet 30-year-old college graduate who has
held the same responsible job for 8 years worries that
she might put razor blades in other people's food. She
refuses to drive a car because she fears she would
deliberately smash it in to another vehicle. She checks
and rechecks the stove. “Off and On” she says to
herself as she reads the burner switches. But it isn't
good enough. She returns again and again seven or
eight times before she can leave the house.
When she makes coffee at work, she worries that she
might have slipped poison into it. She checks her
clothing when she leaves work to make sure she hasn't
tucked a razor blade in to a pocket. She is afraid to
hold babies or be around small children . She worries
that she might suddenly commit some violent act
such as hurling them to the floor.
She won’t shop by herself afraid that she might slip
something into the products on the store shelves. Even
when accompanied by her boyfriend she finds herself
needing reassurance. "I was OK wasn’t I?” she asks.
Susan has never put sharp objects in food hurt a
baby or poisoned coffee.
"All the time I'm doing the checking part of my
mind knows this is ridiculous," says Susan . "But I’m
afraid that if I stopped doing the checking and
something really bad happened I’d feel so guilty that
I hadn’t checked".
Depending on the situation and the nature of the
obsession, the obsessive may feel some pride in his or
her unwillingness to make a premature decision, or may
feel self-contempt when indecisiveness prevents action
and allows others to win acclaim. Only when Charles
Darwin faced the possibility of prior publications was he
able to overcome his obsessive compulsiveness and put
On the Origin of Species into the hands of a publisher.
Compared with repetitive upsetting ideas, repetitive
images are much less common among obsessives. A
typical case is the following.
One of the patient’s most distressing images consisted
of four people lying dead in open coffins in an open
grave. Once this image intruded she was unable to
continue with her normal activities unless and until
she put matters right by having one or more images
in which he saw the same four people standing and
walking around, seemingly healthy. Although the
images appeared for the most part to be spontaneously
(i.e., internally generated) they could be provoked by
exposure to violent or aggressive material of one sort
or another- books or television programs. The images
were extremely distressing and were capable of
provoking Her to tears in a matter of minutes.
- (Rachman and Hodgson, 1980)
I seem to be stuck with them-the thoughts I mean.
T hey seem so unimportant and silly. Why can’t I
think about things I really want to think about? But
I can't stop thinking about trivia like did I lock the
garage door when I went to work this morning. I’ve
never not locked it and my wife’s home anyway . I get
depressed when I realize how much time I waste on
nothing .
I feel under such pressure but I can’t make a
decision. I write out on 3-by-5 cards all the pros and
cons then I study them to consider all the complications
that perhaps might bear on the decision and then I
do it again-but I never seem to be able to make up
my mind.
Obsessional thoughts often seem distasteful and
shameful. Their content generally involves harming others,
causing accidents to occur, swearing, or having
abhorrent sexual or religious idea:
Susan a quiet 30-year-old college graduate who has
held the same responsible job for 8 years worries that
she might put razor blades in other people's food. She
refuses to drive a car because she fears she would
deliberately smash it in to another vehicle. She checks
and rechecks the stove. “Off and On” she says to
herself as she reads the burner switches. But it isn't
good enough. She returns again and again seven or
eight times before she can leave the house.
When she makes coffee at work, she worries that she
might have slipped poison into it. She checks her
clothing when she leaves work to make sure she hasn't
tucked a razor blade in to a pocket. She is afraid to
hold babies or be around small children . She worries
that she might suddenly commit some violent act
such as hurling them to the floor.
She won’t shop by herself afraid that she might slip
something into the products on the store shelves. Even
when accompanied by her boyfriend she finds herself
needing reassurance. "I was OK wasn’t I?” she asks.
Susan has never put sharp objects in food hurt a
baby or poisoned coffee.
"All the time I'm doing the checking part of my
mind knows this is ridiculous," says Susan . "But I’m
afraid that if I stopped doing the checking and
something really bad happened I’d feel so guilty that
I hadn’t checked".
Depending on the situation and the nature of the
obsession, the obsessive may feel some pride in his or
her unwillingness to make a premature decision, or may
feel self-contempt when indecisiveness prevents action
and allows others to win acclaim. Only when Charles
Darwin faced the possibility of prior publications was he
able to overcome his obsessive compulsiveness and put
On the Origin of Species into the hands of a publisher.
Compared with repetitive upsetting ideas, repetitive
images are much less common among obsessives. A
typical case is the following.
One of the patient’s most distressing images consisted
of four people lying dead in open coffins in an open
grave. Once this image intruded she was unable to
continue with her normal activities unless and until
she put matters right by having one or more images
in which he saw the same four people standing and
walking around, seemingly healthy. Although the
images appeared for the most part to be spontaneously
(i.e., internally generated) they could be provoked by
exposure to violent or aggressive material of one sort
or another- books or television programs. The images
were extremely distressing and were capable of
provoking Her to tears in a matter of minutes.
- (Rachman and Hodgson, 1980)
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