The Obsessive personality Constitutes a form of being characterized by rigidity, inflexibility and the pursuit of constant perfectionism.
This way of being can be normal, although in most cases it ends up being a pathological condition. The fact that the obsessive personality is normal or pathological is based on the intensity of the obsessional degrees that the person presents, as well as the consequences on his own functioning and well-being.
In general, obsessive people are characterized by being very demanding both with themselves and with others. They pay close attention to detail and need everything to be perfect for experiencing well-being.
This factor makes individuals with an obsessive personality much more vulnerable to depression. The external factors that can cause you discomfort are much more numerous than normal due to the obsession, which is why you can experience frustration more easily.
You may also like to know What is Obsessive Compulsive Disorder? One of the most common manifestations of obsessive pathological personality.
Obsessive personality: 10 main traits
Perfectionism and meticulousness
Possibly, the trait that best defines obsessional personality is the Perfectionism And thoroughness. In fact, these two aspects are key in this type of personality.
The way of being obsessive is mainly determined by the perfection of things. People who present this type of personality focus their attention on each and every detail, both their environment and themselves.
This fact is motivated in large part by the structure of thought that determines the obsessive personality. This is highly structured and inflexible, so that no element can depart from the individual's mental categorization.
In fact, the perfectionism and meticulousness of the obsessive personality is interpreted as a deficit of adaptation of the person. It is incapable of adapting itself to those elements that are contrary to its psychic order, so that every detail, insignificant as it may be, assumes a high importance.
Also, perfectionism and meticulousness are often elements that entail a high expenditure of time and effort on the part of obsessive people.
Individuals with this type of trait can spend much of the day organizing tasks and creating schedules and / or lists of things to do, to the point where the main objective of the activity is neglected.
Likewise, people with perfectionist traits strongly believe that everything must be perfect and that there is no room for error. This in many cases, people are not able to complete tasks or projects, as they are unable to meet their extremely rigid and perfectionist demands.
2- Tendency to the dichotomy
The perfectionism and meticulousness typical of obsessional personality lead to another of the important features of this type of being: the tendency to dichotomy.
This element is characterized by providing extremist appraisals about things. In other words, they lead to a way of seeing things in black and white, where the gray scale that exists between the two valuations is imperceptible.
The tendency to dichotomy is closely related to perfectionism, due to the mental rigidity that originates the obsessive personality.
People with this type of traits are only able to make two assessments: what suits rigid thinking structures and what does not fit.
For this reason, all those elements that are not perfectly perfect for the obsessive mind are classified as negative, whereas only those aspects with high degrees of perfection are classified as positive or acceptable.
The tendency to dichotomy is therefore another important factor that contributes to reduce the capacity of adaptation of the individuals with obsessive personality.
4- Tendency to pessimism and frustration
The high attention paid to details, as well as the tendency to interpret elements of dichotomous form, make subjects with an obsessive personality much more vulnerable to pessimism and frustration .
The standards of perfection typical of obsessive personality are too high and demanding, so often both internal elements and external elements do not adapt to personal requirements.
This fact leads to the experimentation of frustration in a much more frequent way. For example, a person with an obsessive personality may experience high sensations when performing routine tasks such as cleaning or performing work activities.
The appearance of any detail cataloged by the individual as"imperfect"uncovers in the obsessive person feelings of failure and need to improve.
On the other hand, the high frequency with which"imperfect"elements appear in the life of all people makes people with this type of traits are also much more prone to pessimism.
In fact, according to several authors, obsessive personality is the prelude to Depressive personality Or mood disturbances.
Individuals with these personality traits require much more quality of external elements than other people to develop a state of well-being, so negative emotions appear much more easily.
4- High degrees of responsibility
Obsessive personality is characterized by developing high degrees of responsibility in virtually all areas of people's lives.
The individual feels responsible for everything to be done through the conditions of perfectionism developed in his thought structure.
Obsessive people believe that everything has to be perfect and that the responsibility for it to be or not is to fall on themselves. There is no margin of error in their performance and they operate continuously through high degrees of pressure.
This element usually motivates the appearance of high components of anxiety On the person, as well as the development of a compulsive functioning that has, as sole objective, to meet the standards of perfection established by his obsessions.
5- High need for control
All the elements discussed so far concerning obsessional personality lead to the development of a basic aspect that guides the behavior and behavior of the people who present this way of being.
This element is the control, or rather the need to establish a high control over all aspects.
Each of the details that appear in any of the areas of the life of the obsessive person (family, work, relational, etc.) must be fully controlled by the individual.
This need appears as a psychological tool to respond to all the self-demands of the individual with an obsessive personality.
In this way, the aspects that lack control create nervousness and discomfort in the individual, since if he is not able to control it, it will hardly be able to provide perfection.
This factor can, in the most serious cases, have a very negative impact on the life of the person. Subjects with an obsessive personality can lose friends or couples because of the high time they spend on work and the execution of control over all elements.
People with these characteristic traits believe that they can not take a day off since this can motivate a loss of control and quality in the tasks developed.
6- Hyper-exigency with oneself and with others
Hyper-exigency is one of the most important factors of the obsessive personality. However, it should be borne in mind that this trait applies not only to oneself but also to others.
The main needs of an obsessive person are that everything presents a high degree of control, as well as perfect conditions of quality.
In order to satisfy these needs, the individual has to be hyper-demanding with himself, otherwise he will perceive that everything is wrong and does nothing right (dichotomous thinking).
However, the need for perfection typical of the obsessive personality does not lie solely in its own activities, but also encompasses all the aspects that form part of its environment.
For this reason, the hyper-exigency usually also moves towards the people with whom it relates.
An individual with an obsessive personality will have many difficulties working with a partner who functions in a disorganized way or who does not take into account the details in the same way that he does.
Also, an obsessive person may be totally unable to coexist with a subject that is not extremely organized, as the appearance of minimal disorder in the home will generate high feelings of discomfort.
7- Difficulty in decision making
The obsessional personality is also characterized by generating, in most cases, a notable difficulty in the decision making .
This element becomes especially noticeable when the decision to be made does not present rules or conditions that establish in a precise way the way forward.
Individuals with an obsessive personality guide their behavior to standards of quality and validity, so they require constant elements that determine the empirical demonstration that the decision is right.
Thus, making decisions about issues that do not present precise rules becomes an activity that is beyond the control of the person. This often causes discomfort and nervousness, as well as difficulty in choosing.
8- Search for recognition of acts
Obsessive people develop a behavior centered on perfectionism, the visualization of details and the achievement of maximum quality indices mainly to satisfy their own obsessive need.
However, for the subjects who present this way of being, the development of a thorough perfectionism plays a vital role in their lives, so they are very important elements.
This fact leads to the need for others to also interpret the world in the same way that they do, and therefore, to express constant recognition for the acts they have carried out.
When an individual with an obsessive personality manages to label one of his acts as perfect, he experiences high feelings of gratification and, like any person who is very satisfied with something, expects approval and recognition from others.
However, subjects with obsessive personality are unable to visualize and perceive other aspects such as the time invested in the development of the task, the degree of functionality that has presented or the practical importance that has achieved perfection.
9- Inflexibility
Obsessive personality involves a high degree of flexibility. In fact, the obsession is characterized by being totally inflexible and immovable.
In this way, subjects with these characteristic traits are unable to adapt to situations where perfectionism is not important or to adopt alternative views to theirs.
On the other hand, obsessive personality often involves a high difficulty in detecting the needs of others, as well as their thinking processes, their priorities or their needs.
Perfection and obsession take over much of the day-to-day functioning of the subject, who can hardly leave aside his needs to focus on other aspects.
Likewise, subjects with an obsessive personality may become uncomfortable when they have to relate to others who openly express their emotions and have a more extroverted way of being.
These aspects reduce the seriousness and formality of the relationship and, therefore, do not adapt to the typical thought processes of the obsessive personality.
10- Inability to delegate
Finally, subjects with obsessive personality are characterized by a marked inability to delegate to others.
Self-reliant activities must be carried out with the highest possible degree of control and quality.
Delegation implies, automatically, a decrease in the ability to control the task, so that obsessive people often resist this type of situation.
References
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