psychology
Passion or obsession? 3 signs of obsessive behavior
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It is often seen as positive if you are passionate about something and devote a lot of energy to it. But the behavior can also quickly drift into a compulsive direction. You can tell from a few signs whether your actions or those of your counterpart are still passionate or already obsessed.
Passion plays a big role in our hobbies as well as in our jobs and of course in love. It has even been scientifically proven that it is one of the strengths of a character and helps to achieve satisfaction. But have you ever experienced someone suddenly becoming completely stubborn, desperate to assert their own opinion or to win at all costs? Possibly in these cases it was the obsession that prevailed rather than the passion. How you can quickly recognize and react to such obsessive behavior in the future.
1. Focus on a single pursuit
We often have multiple interests and hobbies. We enjoy dealing with different topics, people and our own ideas. We can also feel like doing a particular activity the most – that suggests it’s healthy Passion. However, if we suddenly only have one thing on our minds, want to achieve a goal with all our might and ignore the rest completely, even though we actually always enjoyed it, we turn into obsessive behavior.
Do you notice this change in focus in yourself? Recall what else you enjoyed and why. It can also be helpful to look at old photos of yourself, for example while you are painting or playing a sport. Try to find an even balance between your favorite activities again. If a person in your environment becomes fixated on a single activity, try to talk to them and encourage them to integrate other things into their everyday life. Maybe you can even revive an old hobby together?
2. No more time for yourself
Independently, but also often in conjunction with the first point, obsessive people experience a decline in MeTime and self-care routines. You don’t take time to read a book in peace, enjoy a bath or meet friends for coffee. They also neglect everyday, vital things such as enough sleep, enough exercise and a balanced diet.
Here, too, it can help if you or the person concerned remember a time when MeTime took place and how good it felt. First, reintroduce small routines, for example reading ten pages a day or taking a long bath once a week. Rethink the priorities in your everyday life. If your physical and mental health is already suffering from a lack of self-care, it may also make sense to seek professional help or at least let people close to you know so that they can support you.
3. Fixate on one thought
You can express your opinion with passion, but also with obsession. Typical of the latter is the insistence on a particular argument. Once this has been said, it is repeated over and over again, either with exactly the same wording or only slightly modified. The focus is strongly on asserting your own opinion. Other views are considered incorrect. The clear goal is to convince the other person, although it would also be okay to have two different opinions.
If you catch yourself doing this, remember that there are always multiple perspectives. It can help if you and the other person write a pros and cons list together. Maybe you can understand each other better through this factual list and maybe even find arguments for a third perspective. It is important to let each other express themselves and not immediately block them. It’s better to ask for an explanation for your opponent’s argument and try to understand where it comes from instead of answering with, for example, “No, that’s not the case.” This will certainly make your conversation more insightful and the obsession will go away.
Sources used: psychologytoday.com, tandfonline.com