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Some thoughts about obsessional phenomena

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 June 2014

David A. Freedman
David A. Freedman*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Medical Centre, Houston, Texas 77030, U.S.A.
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Abstract

The author proposes that the propensity to develop obsessional modes of reaction is virtually ubiquitous and, for most people, highly adaptive. As for other parameters of functioning (e.g. blood pressure, blood glucose etc.) there is a range of “obsessionality” which is essential for survival. From the standpoint of the clinician the following questions need to be addressed: (1) Is there a pattern of developmental experiences which can be correlated with the emergence of obsessional phenomena? (2) Are there defineable life circumstances which can be related both to the failure to develop appropriate levels of obsessionality and to the development of a level of obsessionality which is maladaptive? (3) How to distinguish the obsessional character from the individual suffering from an obsessional neurosis? and (4) What therapeutic interventions are likely to be effective in the managment of the obsessional individual?

Keywords

obsessioncompulsionobsessional contractepigenesis
Type
Perspectives
Information
Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine , Volume 7 , Issue 1 , March 1990 , pp. 53 - 58
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1990

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