You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
The neurotic personality of today seems to develop more obsessive ideas and compulsive trends than ever before. This may have something to do with recent advances in technology and science, and on emphasis on college education and acquisition of academic degrees. Although there are ever so many energy- and time-saving devices available, the neurotic tends to crowd his schedule and then will complain about the dearth of leisure time. However, it is obvious that the driven individual does not wish to have any leisure time, and that he avoids any opportunity to take a look at himself and to come face to face with his problems. Becoming aware of unresolved conflicts arouses anxiety which he has to avoid at any cost. He therefore throws himself into his work. He takes on more jobs, makes more money and invents more time- and labor-saving devices. It is as if he were trying not only to build, use and depend on computers, but to become a computer himself. Out of necessity he focuses on knowing, planning and plotting, on making absolutely certain and eliminating any chance-taking. He has forgotten how to live with imperfection and insecurity. However, in his frantic search for perfection and security he makes his life more and more miserable. Our culture breeds compulsiveness and probably contributes to the increase of the so-called “obsessive-compulsive neurosis.” Similarly, we can spot many obsessive and compulsive features in depressed and schizophrenic patients.
Since the single individual is actively contributing to shaping culture and society, it is imperative for him to bring about a change in the direction of health. The old saying that, “Charity begins at home,” obtains for him. The neurotic is inclined to externalize his problems onto society or culture.
He feels that “they” expect him to live up to high standards and that “they” force him to compete with others. Every neurotic is driven by his compulsive trends, but the obsessive-compulsive suffers from a very spec