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'===Symptoms===[[Obsessional neurosis]]' (Fr. ''névrose obsessionnelle'') was first developed as a diagnostic [[category ]] by [[Sigmund Freud]] in 1894.  In doing so, [[Freud]] grouped together as one condition a series of [[symptom]]swhich had been described long before but which had been linked with a variety of different diagnostic [[categories]].<ref>Laplanche, Jean and Pontalis, Jean-Bertrand. ''The [[Language]] of [[Psycho]]-[[Analysis]]'', trans. Donald Nicholson-Smith, [[London]]: Hogarth Press and the Institute of Psycho-Analysis, which 1973 [1967]: 281-2</ref> These [[symptom]]s include:* obsessions (recurrent [[ideas]]), * impulses to perform actions which seem absurd and/or abhorrent to the [[subject]], and * '"[[rituals' ]]" (compulsively repeated actions such as checking or washing).

===Structure===While [[Lacan]] also sees these [[symptom]]s as typical of [[obsessional neurosis]], the term 'he argues that [[obsessional neurosis]]' denotes designates not a set of [[symptom]]s but an underlying [[structure]] (which may or may not [[manifest ]] itself in the [[symptom]]s typically associated with it). The Thus the [[subject]] may well exhibit none of the typical obsessional [[symptomssymptom]] s and yet still be diagnosed as an [[obsessional neurotic]] by a [[Lacan]]ian [[analyst]]. [[Lacan]] defines [[obsessional neurosis]] as one of the main types of [[neurosis]]. In 1956, [[Lacan]] develops the idea that, like [[hysteria]], [[obsessional neurosis]] is essentially a question which being poses for the [[subject]].<ref>{{S3}} p.174</ref> The question which constitutes [[obsessional neurosis]] concerns the contingency of one's existence, the question about [[death]]:"To be or not to be?", "Am I dead or alive?", or "Why do I exist?"<ref>{{S3}} p.179-80</ref> The response of the obsessional]] is to work feverishly to justify his [[existence]] (which also testifies to the special burden of [[guilt]] felt by the [[obsessional]]); the [[obsessional]] performs some [[compulsive]] [[ritual]] because he thinks that this will enable him to escape the [[lack]] in the [[Other]], the [[castration]] of the [[Other]], which is often represented in [[fantasy]] as some terrible disaster. ===Example===For example, in the case of one of [[Freud]]'s [[obsessional neurotic]] [[patient]], whom [[Freud]] nicknamed the [[Rat Man]], the [[patient]] had deeloped elaborate [[ritual]]s which he performed to ward off the [[fear]] of a terrible [[punishment]] being inflicted on his [[father]] or on his beloved.<ref>Freud 1909.D.</ref> These [[ritual]]s, both in their [[form]] and [[content]], led [[Freud]] to draw parallels between the [[structure]] of [[obsessional neurosis]] and the [[structure]] of [[religion]]. ==Hysteria==Whereas the [[hysterical]] question concerns the [[subject]]'s [[sexual position]] ("Am I a man or a woman?'), the [[obsessional neurotic]] repudiates this question, refusing both [[sex]]es, calling himself neither [[male]] nor [[female]]:"The obsessional is precisely neither one [sex] nor the other - one may also say that he is both at once."<ref>{{S3}} p.249</ref> ==Time==[[Lacan]] also draws attention to the way that the [[obsessional neurotic]]'s questionj about [[existence]] and [[death]] has consequences for his attitude to [[time]]. This attitude can be one of perpetual hesitation and procrastination while waiting for [[death]],<ref>{{E}} p.99</ref> or of considering oneself [[immortal]] because one is already [[dead]].<ref>{{S3}} p.180</ref> ==Other features==Other features of [[obsessional neurosis]] which [[Lacan]] comments on are the sense of [[guilt]], and the close connection with [[anal]] [[erotic]]ism. In respect of the latter, [[Lacan]] remarks that the [[obsessional neurotic]] does not only transform his shit into gifts and his gifts into shit, but also transforms himself into shit.<ref>{{S8}} p.243</ref>  ==Enotes==The term [[obsessional neurosis]] denotes a condition in which the [[patient]]'s mind is intruded upon (against his or her will) by [[image]]s, [[idea]]s, or [[word]]s.  The [[patient]]'s [[consciousness]] nevertheless remains lucid and his or her [[power]] to reason remains intact.  These uncontrollable obsessions are experienced as morbid inasmuch as they temporarily deprive the [[individual]] of [[freedom]] of [[thought]] and [[action]].  Sometimes the [[defense]]s can eliminate the [[anxiety]] and the [[symptom]]s, but at the price of [[displacing]] characteristics of primitive obsession (uncontrollability, compulsions) onto the [[defense mechanism]]s.  [[Sigmund Freud]]'s view of [[obsessional neurosis]] appeared as early as 1894.  In "The Neuro-Psychoses of Defence" (1894a) he broke with the conceptions of classical [[psychiatry]] and stipulated that the cause of [[obsessional neurosis]] lies in the [[existence]] of an intrapsychic conflict of sexual origin that mobilizes and blocks all flows of [[energy]].  He thus opposed the classical theory of degeneration and the idea of innate weakness of the [[ego]] that [[Pierre Janet]] used as the basis for his description of psychasthenia.

==Neurosis==Following [[Freud]] proposed a traumatic etiology for , [[Lacan]] classes [[obsessional neurosis]] as one of the main forms of [[neurosis]].

An early sexual event occurs before puberty; however===Question of Existence===In 1956, [[Lacan]] develops the [[idea]] that, in contrast to what happens in like [[hysteria]], this event [[obsessional neurosis]] is essentially a source question which [[being]] poses for the [[subject]].<ref>{{S3}} pp. 179-80</ref> The question which constitutes [[obsessional neurosis]] concerns the [[contingency]] of one's [[existence]] (which also testifies to the special burden of [[pleasureguilt]] felt by the [[obsessional]]); the [[obsessional]] performs some compulsive [[ritual]] because he thinks that this will enable him to escape the [[childlack]] in the [[Other]], the [[castration]] of the [[Other]], which is often represented in [[fantasy]]as some terrible disaster.

The individual experiences strong feelings ===Example of Rat Man===For example, in the [[guiltcase]] of one of [[Freud]]'s [[obsessional neurotic]] [[patient]]s, whom [[Freud]] nicknamed the [[Rat Man]], the [[patient]] had developed elaborate rituals which he performed to war off the [[fear]] of a terrible [[punishment]] being inflicted on his [[father]] or on his [[beloved]] and is overcome by self-reproach. <ref>[[Freud|Freud, Sigmund]]. "[[Works of Sigmund Freud|Notes Upon a Case of Obsessional Neurosis]]," 1909d. [[SE]] X, 155</ref>

===Structure of Religion===These feelings are repressed rituals, both in their [[form]] and then replaced by a primary system [[content]], led [[Freud]] to draw parallels between the [[structure]] of symptoms [[obsessional neurosis]] and traits: scrupulousnessthe [[structure]] of [[religion]], shame, mistrust of selfparallels which [[Lacan]] also [[notes]].

The success of these defenses allows ===Sexual Position===Whereas the individual to go through an apparently healthy period. [[hysterical]] question concerns the [[subject]]'s [[sexual position]] ("Am I a [[man]] or a [[woman]]?"), the [[obsessional neurotic]] repudiates this question, refusing both [[sexes]], calling himself neither [[male]] nor [[female]]:

But eventually these defenses are exhausted and there is a return of the repressed memories with the outbreak of the illness and its attendant symptoms.  In <blockquote>"The Disposition to Obsessional Neurosis: A Contribution to the Problem of Choice of Neurosis" (1913i), Freud defended the idea that the choice of this neurosis obsessional is linked to developmental inhibitions, and he stressed precisely neither one [sex] nor the role of fixation and regression to the anal-sadistic stage.  He suggested "the possibility that a chronological outstripping of libidinal development by ego development should be included in the disposition to obsessional neurosis.  A precocity of this kind would necessitate the choice of an object under the influence of the ego-instincts, at a time when the sexual instincts had not yet assumed their final shape, and a fixation at the stage of the pregenital sexual organization would thus be left" (p. 325).  Thus, in the object relation, hate will precede love and "obsessional neurotics have to develop a superother -morality in order to protect their object-love from the hostility lurking behind it" (p. 325).  This opposition between love and hate for the object was underscored by Freud in the case of the "Rat Man," related in "Notes upon a Case of Obsessional Neurosis" (1909d).  He saw it as the source of the doubt, compulsions, and ambivalence that are characteristic of obsessional functioning.  In "Inhibitions, Symptoms and Anxiety," Freud described the two main defense mechanisms in obsessional neurosis that replace repression: undoing what has been done and isolation.  The first of these, undoing (Ungeschehenmachen), means making something that has already happened "unhappen" by means of a symbolic motor action; it is one may also found in magical practices, folk customs, and religious rituals.  The second, isolation, involves the motor sphere and consists in the fact say that after an unpleasurable event there is a pause during which nothing further can happen, no perception is possible, and no action can take place.  Motor isolation functions to guarantee a break in the connection of thoughts.  In the same way that the obsessional patient enacts the taboo against touching (because he fears that contact with the object will force him to face his unbound ambivalence between love and hate), the isolation of an impression or an activity, by means of a break in the chain of thoughts, symbolically indicates that he does not want to allow thoughts relating to it to "contaminate" other thoughts.  This mechanism is present in normal people in their everyday mental activities involving concentration.  The fundamental rule of free association involves asking the ego to give up this defense.  The patient suffering from obsessional neurosis finds it particularly difficult to follow this rule.  This is why, paradoxically, psychoanalysis is both the most indicated treatment for these patients and at the same time the most difficult to implementonce.  Like Freud, the psychoanalysts who came after him always placed the accent on the obsessional structure rather than on symptoms.  This poses problems of terminology.  The term obsessional neurosis is not the exact equivalent of the German Zwangsneurose : Zwang refers not just to compulsive thought or obsessions (Zwangsvorstellungen), but also to compulsive acts (Zwangshandlungen) and compulsive affects (Zwangsaffekte).  Certain French authors therefore prefer to use the term névrose de contrainte, and some American authors prefer the term compulsive neurosis.  Obsessional functioning is the preferred term for the group of processes and defense mechanisms that characterize obsessional neurosis, but which are also present, to a lesser degree, in other patients, in the form of obsessive personality traits or a system of defenses put up as an alternative to a costlier mode of psychic functioning, psychotic functioning.  In this regard, let us note that because organized obsessional neuroses are sometimes extremely debilitating, the categorization of this pathology has been questioned and it has been compared with the psychoses.  Several factors present in the former are lacking in the latter: self-recrimination by the ego, adherence to insistent preoccupations, and the deployment of elaborate defenses.  In the obsessional patient, affective isolation allows the ego to cut itself off from desire, whereas in psychosis the ego is cut off from reality"<ref>{{S3}} p.249</ref></blockquote>

* [[Activity]]/[[passivity]]* [[Ambivalence]]* [[Anality]]* [[Anal-sadistic stage]]* [[Castration complex]]* [[Compromise formation]]* [[Compulsion]]{{See}}* [[Death and psychoanalysis]]* [[Demand]]* [[Displacement]]* [[Doubt]]* [[Eroticism]]* [[From the History of an Infantile Neurosis]]* [[The Future of an Illusion]]* [[Heredity and the Etiology of the Neuroses]]* [[Id]]* [[Inhibitions, Symptoms and AnxietyExistence]]* [[Instinctual impulse]]* [[Intellectualization]]||* [[Isolation (defense mechanism)Hysteria]]

* [[Obsession]]* [[Omnipotence, infantile]]* [[Omnipotence of thought]]* [[Phobia of committing impulsive acts]]* [[Psychic structure]]* [[Neuro-psychosis of defense]]* [[Quota of affect]]* [[Rationalization]]* [[Reaction-formation]]||* [[Religion and psychoanalysis]]* [[Repression]]* [[Rite and ritual]]* [[Secondary revision]]* [[Self-punishment]]* [[Symptom-formation]]* [[Taboo]]||* [[ThoughtStructure]]* [[TicsTreatment]]* [[Turning around upon the subject's own self]]{{Also}}

==References==<div style="font-size:11px" class="references-small">

# Freud, Sigmund. (1913i). The disposition to obsessional neurosis: A contribution to the problem of choice of neurosis. SE, 12: 311-326.</div>[[Category:NewDictionary]]

[[Category:NeurosisConcepts]][[Category:Psychoanalysis]][[Category:Sexuality]]