From a Lacanian perspective, Moss examines traits of individuals in whom either obsessionality or sublimation are primary. An obsessional focuses upon doubt, problems of method, reconstruction, and fantasies of early states of love and purity. The difficulty in selecting alternatives may result in excesses. The sublimator is viewed as one who investigates, discards, engenders disorder, and only dreams of love, but does not love. Representative thought patterns, which are "neither fiction nor reportage" of both a sublimator and an obsessional are presented. One promise of psychoanalysis is viewed as "access to the present tense."