Psychoanalysis is particularly well-suited to study the problems of indecision. Historically the analytic literature has conceived of indecision as a form of obsessional doubting and traced its origins to conflicts arising in the anal phase of psychosexual development. But there are many patients who, in spite of careful analysis of these conflicts, cannot resolve an indecision, and where its origins have an oral component.

Each choice an individual makes involves the renunciation of an infinite number of potential options and the settling for one. Giving up potential, giving up options, giving up possible future choices is a difficult task for someone who cannot give up anything. Also, deciding on any choice requires the renunciation of the oral fantasy that one may have it all.