Obsessive States: Aesthetics, Erotism, and Fantasy

Starting from his early writings, Freud devoted much thought to "obsessional neurosis" and continued developing this theme for more than thirty years. However, unlike the disorder hysteria, which in recent years has regained its honorable status in psychoanalytic literature, obsessional neurosis has been continually neglected and relegated to the fields of psychiatry and behavioral psychology, which emphasize the symptomatic and the overt. This process, by clinging to the objective aspects of obsessional neurosis and disassociating it from the instincts and from its historical sources, may itself be deemed obsessive. This paper suggests that obsessive processes should be viewed as structuring a distinct psychic state pertinent to analysis even when obsessive symptoms are not clearly present or apparent. Freud's conceptualizations thus become more flexibly and widely applicable, allowing the analyst once again to relate to the patient's inner world and to the original, implicit essence of obsession, relying less significantly on what is outwardly apparent. The paper will elaborate on three aspects of this "obsessive state": aesthetics, eroticism, and fantasy. Finally, the value of the notion of obsessive psychic states will be reassessed in the broader context of the role of sexuality in psychoanalytic theory.