Compulsions: definition, causes and possible symptoms

There are people who, feeling frustrated for some reason, unconsciously perform a ritualized action through which they try to reduce their discomfort.

This is this kind of behavior reflect a psychological phenomenon known as compulsion.

What are compulsions?

The idea of ​​what compulsions are can be defined slightly differently according to two different psychological approaches: psychoanalysis born with Sigmund Freud and the cognitive behavioral psychology.

Compulsions according to psychoanalysis

The concept of compulsion was widely used in the field of psychoanalysis, and from this perspective it was understood that its meaning was that of a repetitive behavior that is used to give way to the frustration of not being able to satisfy desires that are born in the most unconscious and passionate part of the mind.

In this way, compulsions will be ways of compensating for the impossibility of responding to a desire of the type emotional while keeping consciousness distracted and away from the true source of the frustration. In this way,

for the psychoanalytic approach, compulsion is a way of masking a need whose idea is tried to repress so that it does not pass to the conscious part of the psyche.

But this deception does not correspond to reality, and in fact it is not effective to definitively end the need, since it is a superficial and momentary arrangement; That is why that forbidden desire remains latent in the unconscious, and makes compulsions have to repeat themselves all the time.

Compulsions according to the cognitive-behavioral paradigm

According to this current of psychology, there is no conscious entity that tries to suppress content stored in another unconscious entity, so the definition of compulsion gives up these concepts. Thus, from this point of view, a compulsion is a behavior (such as pulling hair or washing hands) or a mental act (such as mentally repeating a word) that becomes a repetitive ritual without having to lead to a clear purpose of which the person is aware.

Over time, compulsions can recur so frequently that they can damage significantly the quality of life of the person by not allowing him to carry out normal plans and tasks in his day a day.

Causes

As we have seen, the definition of what a compulsion is changes significantly depending on which current we pay attention to. From current psychology, however, it is considered that the psychoanalytic concept of compulsion is not useful, since it does not allow hypothesis to be tested; that is why the second is the dominant one.

According to the concept of compulsion used by the cognitive-behavioral current, the cause of this phenomenon is due to a maladaptive association. In other words, compulsions are the result of learning that tries to respond to a feeling of discomfort that occurs regularly and that is just as effective. bad or worse than what you want to combat, since it is repeated all the time and makes the person or feel good if they do not perform a series of very determined steps and rigid.

The role of obsessions

It is considered that that unpleasant stimulus that makes the person perform compulsions repeatedly is something called obsession. An obsession is an idea or a mental image (that is, an idea that instead of being able to communicate with words is rather visual) that is unbearable or too intrusive.

For example, you may think of a very embarrassing scene very often, or you may think of a photograph that is disgusting.

These obsessions appear without prior notice and without the person wanting it, and generate discomfort. The compulsion is the improvised strategy that is used to try to reduce the discomfort. Unfortunately, over time the compulsion becomes as uncontrollable and unpredictable as the obsession, because as it has been repeated it has been totally associated with it. This mechanism is the foundation of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.

• You can read more about Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder in this article: "Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD): what is it and how does it manifest?”

Symptoms in cases of compulsion

These are some of the most common symptoms related to compulsions and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. It must be borne in mind that if there is no feeling of inability to control these actions and if there is no perceives a worsening of the quality of life due to them, it is premature to consider that they present compulsions In any case, the diagnosis must be made by clinical psychologists or by other professionals specialized in such kind of practices within the health system.

• Frequent ritual of handwashing
• Need to have a certain area of ​​the house very well organized, with perfectly aligned objects, symmetrical organizations, etc.
• Frequent ritual of wash an object always following the same steps in the same order
• Need to check several times whether a door has been locked
• Need to check many times if the gas tap has been closed