Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-08T01:25:30.753Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Personality and Obsessional Neurosis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

C. M. Rosenberg
C. M. Rosenberg*
Affiliation:
Netherne Hospital, Coulsdon, Surrey, and the Westminster Hospital, London, S.W.1, now at Psychiatric Research Unit, Callan Park Hospital, Rozelle, Sydney, N.S. W., Australia
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

It is generally accepted that the obsessional personality (obsessoid, anal-erotic character) is the premorbid personality most frequently associated with obsessional neurosis. Freud (1908) described the triad of traits of orderliness, parsimoniousness and obstinacy which characterizes this personality. He considered that these traits were due to reaction formation against and sublimation of anal-erotic activities and aggressive impulses into socially acceptable forms of behaviour. According to this view the anal-erotic character and obsessional neurosis share a common developmental basis—the neurosis represents a failure of repression, the regression to the anal-sadistic level of libidinal organization and the use of defences against excessive hostility.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 113 , Issue 498 , May 1967 , pp. 471 - 477
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1967 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Cattell, R. B., and Warburton, F. W. (1961). “A cross-cultural comparison of patterns of extraversion and anxiety.” Brit. J. Psychol., 52, 3–15.Google Scholar
Cattell, R. B., and Warburton, F. W. (1962). Handbook for the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire. The Institute for Personality and Ability Testing. Champaign, Illinois.Google Scholar
Cecil, and Loeb, (1963). Textbook of Medicine. 11th ed. W. B. Saunders Company: Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Edwards, A. L. (1959). Revised Manual for the E.P.P.S. New York. Psychological Corporation.Google Scholar
Eysenck, H. J. (1959). Manual of the Maudsley Personality Inventory. University of London Press.Google Scholar
Foulds, G. A. (1965). Personality and Personal Illness. London. Tavistock Publications.Google Scholar
Freud, S. (1908). Character and Anal Erotism . In: Collected Papers, II. London: Hogarth Press. 1948.Google Scholar
Hamilton, V. (1957). “Conflict avoidance in obsessionals and hysterics, and the validity of the concept of dysthymia.” J. ment. Sci., 103, 666–676.Google Scholar
Henderson, D., and Batchelor, I. R. C. (1962). Henderson and Gillespie's Textbook of Psychiatry. 9th ed. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Ingram, I. M. (1961). “The obsessional personality and obsessional illness.” Amer. J. Psychiat., 117, 1016–1019.Google Scholar
Ingram, I. M. (1961). “Obsessional personality and anal-erotic character.” J. ment. Sri., 107, 1035–1042.Google Scholar
Lewis, A. (1936). “Problems of obsessional illness.” Proc. Roy. Soc. Med., 29, 325–336.Google Scholar
Lewis, A. (1957). “Obsessional Illness.” (R.M.P.A. lecture). Acta neuropsiquiat. argent., 3, 323–334. Quoted in: Patterns of Meaning in Psychiatric Patients. By I.M. Marks. London. 1965. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Lewis, A. (1965). “A note on personality and obsessional neurosis.” Psychiat. Neurol. (Basel). 150, 299–305.Google Scholar
Marks, I. M. (1965). Patterns of Meaning in Psychiatric Patients. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Müller, C. (1953). “Vorläufige Mitteilung zur langen Katamnese der Zwangskranken”. Nervenarzt, 24, 112–115.Google Scholar
Pollitt, J. (1957). “Natural history of obsessional states.” Brit. med. J., i, 194.Google Scholar
Rosenberg, C. M. (1966). “Obsessional Neurosis: A clinical and psychological study of 144 cases.” Thesis submitted for the M.D. degree. University of Witwatersrand.Google Scholar
Rüdin, E. (1953). “Ein Beitrag zur Frage der Zwangskrankheit, insbesondere ihrer hereditären Beziehungen.” Arch. Psychiat. Z. Neurol., 191, 14–54.Google Scholar
Salzman, L. (1965). “Obsessions and phobias.” Contemp. Psychoanal., 2, 1–25.Google Scholar
Salzman, L. (1966). “Therapy of obsessional states.” Am. J. Psychiat., 122, 1139–1146.Google Scholar
Sandler, J., and Hazari, A. (1960). “The ‘obsessional’: on the psychological classification of obsessional character traits and symptoms.” Brit. J. med. Psychol., 33, 113–122.Google Scholar
Sears, R. R. (1936). “Experimental studies of projection: I. Attribution of traits.” J. soc. Psychol., 7, 151.Google Scholar
Sears, R. R. (1943). “Survey of objective studies of psychoanalytic concepts.” Bulletin No. 51, Soc. Sri. Res. Com. Bull. New York.Google Scholar
Skoog, G. (1959). The Anancastic Syndrome and its Relation to Personality Attitudes. Copenhagen: Ejnar Munksgaard.Google Scholar
Slater, E. (1943). “The neurotic constitution.” J. Neurol. Psychiat., 6, 1–16.Google Scholar
Slater, E. (1950). “The genetical aspects of personality and neurosis.” Congrès. Internal. de Psychiatrie, Paris, Vol. VI.Google Scholar
Taylor, J. A. (1953). “A personality scale of manifest anxiety.” J. abnorm. soc. Psychol., 48, 285–290.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.