What is an obsession? Causes, symptoms and treatment

Most of us have gone through times when, due to times of anxiety, stress, or difficult situations, We have experienced a series of recurring and uncontrollable ideas or thoughts that have generated high levels of anguish.

However, although these experiences are generally normal, we run the risk of these thoughts turning into obsessions. So that this does not happen, it will be very useful to know what these obsessions consist of, as well as their types and the resources that we have at our disposal to combat them.

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What is an obsession?

Obsessions, or obsessive thoughts, are thought dynamics in which the person's mind clings to a fixed idea. Usually, these ideas are associated with some event, event or situation that supposes a or concern for it that generates feelings of fear or anguish.

For a thought to be considered obsessive it must meet a series of characteristics. The first is that these ideas must be repetitive and recurring; that is, they constantly appear in the person's mind.

In addition, they must also arise involuntarily and be uncontrollable; This means that no matter how hard the person tries not to think about them or to eliminate them from his head, these ideas will return to his mind, perhaps even more strongly.

The most common causes that give rise to these obsessions or obsessive thoughts are states of anxiety and psychological stress. In both cases the person experiences a series of recurring worries or fears that, in addition, tend to worsen the symptoms of anxiety.

Therefore, the person is involved in a vicious circle in which he suffers an anxiety that causes a series of obsessive thoughts, which in turn contribute to further fueling the symptoms of bliss anxiety.

The ways in which these obsessive thoughts are externalized are many and very diverse, and in most cases they will be influenced by the personality traits of the subject, as well as the surrounding context. Obsessive behaviors related to order, cleanliness or physical appearance, are the reflection of these ideas that cloud the person's mind.

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What differentiates a worry from an obsession?

Although it is true that a concern can become an obsession, and in turn this can acquire a degree of chronicity that makes it pathological, there are a series of differences that allow us to distinguish between a preoccupation and an obsessive idea.

Unlike the more normative category concerns, obsessive thoughts have a degree of much higher intensity, frequency and duration, so they are also liable to cause much more discomfort.

Furthermore, in the case of obsessions, the subject has almost no control over them. Namely, show much greater resistance to the person's attempts to remove them from their head.

Finally, according to a study by Paul Salkovskis, professor of clinical psychology and applied sciences at the University of Bath, revealed that 90% of people mentally healthy women experienced a series of intrusive ideas related to worries that caused a high degree of anguish and discomfort, but did not rise to the category of obsessions

When can they be considered pathological?

As we have seen previously, a large number of people have to experience a series of obsessive thoughts which do not have to be linked to any type of psychological pathology. However, there is a risk that these obsessions turn into chronic obsessive thoughts, which can lead to transform into an obsessive disorder and significantly interfere with the person's day-to-day life.

Recurring obsessions or concerns of a normative category tend to disappear over time, or once the problem has been resolved. However, these thoughts can be very distressing and stressful.

When these thoughts turn into serious obsessions and are accompanied by compulsive acts intended to reduce discomfort, it is very possible that the person suffers from the known obsessive compulsive disorder (TOC). In this case, the obsessions must be classified as pathological, since they are part of a much broader symptomatology.

Also, although it is not a general rule, the thoughts of this type of psychological alteration do not have to be subject to reason. That is, the ideas or concerns that flood the patient's mind may be incoherent or have no rational basis.

For example, the person may constantly and uncontrollably think that if the light is left on something bad can happen to him when he leaves the house, so he performs compulsive checks and constant. Here it is shown how thoughts are not necessarily logical, since they join two facts that in reality have nothing to do with each other.

Finally, despite the fact that the person may come to accept that her ideas do not start from any logical principle, she is not able to eliminate these obsessions at all.

Types of obsessions

As for the content of obsessive thoughts, these can be as varied as there are people in the world. However, there are a series of relatively recurring obsessions both within the population that suffers from OCD, as in those people who, due to anxiety or stress suffered, experience this type of ideas uncontrollable.

Some types of obsessive ideas include:

• Obsession for order and organization.
• Obsessive fears in relation to home. Like closing the whole house, leaving the electricity or gas open, etc.
• Irrational and obsessive ideas about cleanliness and illnesses.
• Obsessive fear of being in danger of a physical nature.
• Obsessive thoughts sexual in nature.

How to manage these thoughts?

In cases where obsessions are part of a diagnosis of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, it will be It is necessary for the person to visit a mental health professional to initiate therapy appropriate to their condition.

However, if these thoughts are only due to a particularly complicated stage of life, there are some techniques or steps that the person can carry out in order to reduce or eliminate these thoughts. These techniques include:

• Keep your mind and body active through physical exercise.
• Not trying to stop or control thoughtsInstead, let them flow temporarily until their intensity subsides.
• Know the origin of these and try to solve the problem.
• Reflect these thoughts in writing.
• Carry out relaxation techniques.
• If nothing works go to a professional in psychology.