Obsessive personality disorder

The truth is that in our society, or at least in a good part of it, Behavioral styles that promote dedication to work and highly productive results are valued and reinforced. Qualities such as being a perfectionist, thorough, organized and competent are highly valued in the work environment and the people who represent them tend to be promoted and occupy positions of responsibility in their jobs.

Well then, Individuals with an obsessive style tend to be highly represented in these characteristics. They waste work capacity, they like to do things not only well, but as well as possible. They are not fond of leisure, since in their thinking patterns, rest and fun mean a loss of productive time, of progress.

Characteristics of obsessive people

People with obsessive personality disorder usually measure the degree of satisfaction with their behavior based on their schemas and values. rather than focusing on the result they have obtained with said way of acting. They can be the anti-pollution environmentalist, the anti-noise neighbor, the driver who respects and enforces traffic rules… These people rarely leave their instincts or their most immediate reactions free. In this sense, most of the answers they give are the product of a deep reflection process. They are not fond of risks and plan, order, classify and place what is within their reach.

They keep a large number of objects, which, although often useless, respond to the following thought: “who knows if one day they might need them.” They may spend significantly less time on family, interpersonal, or social relationships in general. However, they usually make sure that their loved ones have their basic needs covered and that they do not have to worry about this.

Obsessive-compulsive personality style: the perfectionist type

The difference between the perfectionistic personality style and obsessive personality disorder lies in the severity of the symptoms that characterize them. People with obsessive personality disorder are so meticulous that they become ineffective at work and in their personal lives.

When this perfectionism interferes with the subject’s daily life, we can talk about obsessive personality disorder. On the other hand, A perfectionist personality style is even valued by Western societies. Let’s think that in these societies priority is given to values ​​such as individuality, competition and job promotion.

More common in developed societies

The obsessive personality style seems to be more frequent in developed societies, like ours, characterized by an organized and disciplined life.. Those people who try to occupy an important place in society are favored by characteristics such as efficiency, punctuality, perseverance, hard work and meticulousness.

Spending many hours in the office to finish a job or making an effort to eliminate the slightest error in a task is rewarded in the workplace. Many of these people can become top executives. Thus, in general terms, At a business level, it is understood that the more an employee works, the better for the company.

Obsessive personality disorder and self-discipline

The obsessive personality style has great self-discipline (a powerful “superego” if we look at it from a psychoanalytic perspective). It is governed by the intellect and not by the emotions. Furthermore, he is usually reserved and not very effusive.

They are prone to stress when their behavior approaches the type A behavior pattern, making it difficult for them to relax and enjoy pleasure. Having free time without planned activities can make them more nervous than an agenda full of pending matters.

Obsessive personality disorder and couples

With respect to couple life, these individuals tend to be good companions, being faithful, responsible, and taking good care of their spouses. Even so, they do it in an unromantic way and show little of their emotions. They are fundamentally practical.

Due to this reserve on the emotional level, They make a good pair with people of a histrionic type (the most effusive and exaggerated of personality styles). Obsessives are attracted to histrionics as a partner because they make them feel more active and alive. At the same time, the histrionic may be attracted to the obsessive because he or she provides the necessary stability.

The obsessive also tends to get along well with antisocial, avoidant, dependent and self-destructive styles.. On the contrary, he does not seem to have good relationships with subjects with the same personality type. Nor with the narcissistic, paranoid or sadistic styles.

How to relate to an obsessive guy?

When interacting with people diagnosed with obsessive personality disorder, Oldham and Morris (1995) suggest some behaviors to make the relationship more fluid. They recommend Face the relationship with good humor and tolerance, allowing the obsessive to continue with their habits. Be flexible, allowing them to act the way they do, as long as this way of acting does not end up generating a feeling of discomfort in them, turning against them.

You don’t have to wait for the obsessive to change. Given their reluctance to change, it must be someone else who proposes the changes. On the other hand, the few signs of affection they show can cause discouragement in other people. It must be taken into account that it is only a matter of lack of manifestation, in no case does it mean absence of feelings or feelings less intense than those that the person who does express them may have.

Power struggles are not effective with people with obsessive personality disorder, since they are very skilled at arguing their reasons. It is recommended to listen to them and try to understand them. For his part, as a couple, the obsessive will tend to take care of the details of life together and position himself as the point of balance for the stability of the relationship. It is advisable to remind them often that they are very important people to the people around them.

As we have seen, obsessive personality disorder is fundamentally characterized by perfectionism, excessive dedication to work, rigidity and inability to get rid of useless objects. The relationship with this type of people can become complicated if the points we have talked about are not taken into account.

Bibliographic references

Feist, J. (2007). Personality theories. Madrid: McGraw-Hill.

Schultz, D. (2002). Personality theories. Madrid: Paraninfo.