Literary notes about obsessive (AI summary)
In literature, the word "obsessive" is employed to convey an intensity that can border on compulsion, whether in character traits, emotional states, or even clinical descriptions. Writers may depict a character whose resolute drive becomes all-consuming, as in the portrayal of a man determined to fulfill his desires [1] or a youth fighting an inner battle fueled by obsessive passion [2]. At the same time, the adjective is used to illustrate detailed behavioral peculiarities—a diner’s prolonged indecision [3] or a collector’s deep-seated fixation [4]—which infuse ordinary scenes with irony or psychological depth. Beyond individual behavior, "obsessive" also appears in medical and analytical contexts, describing conditions from obsessive psychosis to a fixation on symptoms and rituals [5, 6, 7]. Together, these varied uses enable authors to explore the fine line between admirable persistence and the darker implications of an uncontrolled, almost pathological, preoccupation.
- He was driven, obsessive, always determined to do what he wanted, just as she was.
— from Project Daedalus by Thomas Hoover - His passion- ate, almost obsessive hatred of everything American finally comes to a head when he acts upon his desires.
— from Terminal Compromise by Winn Schwartau - Not infrequently the obsessive diner so long hesitates before giving his final order that the waiter brings the wrong dish.
— from Why Worry? by George Lincoln Walton - Home away from home for obsessive collectors.
— from The Samurai Strategy by Thomas Hoover - In the differential diagnosis, alcoholism, cyclothymia, obsessive psychosis and occasionally systematized delusional psychosis may be considered.
— from Shell-Shock and Other Neuropsychiatric ProblemsPresented in Five Hundred and Eighty-nine Case Histories from the War Literature, 1914-1918 by Elmer Ernest Southard - There was, in short, no labyrinthine lesion, but merely an obsessive mental phenomenon.
— from Shell-Shock and Other Neuropsychiatric ProblemsPresented in Five Hundred and Eighty-nine Case Histories from the War Literature, 1914-1918 by Elmer Ernest Southard - The most common of these obsessive acts is washing with water (washing obsession).
— from Totem and Taboo by Sigmund Freud
