Obsessional Personality and Anal-Erotic Character

Abstract

Popular psychiatric terms are often used uncritically and it is salutary to examine our usage from time to time. “Obsessional” is such a word; it may describe a symptom or a type of personality, with immediate possibilities of misunderstanding. Here it is used to describe a type of personality, as in the phrase “obsessional personality”. The current usage of this phrase will be examined and it will be compared with the usage of the “anal-erotic character” of psychoanalysis. The two terms differ: the obsessional personality is purely descriptive while the anal-erotic character is based on a theory of personality development; yet they are often used synonymously. Do they differ in descriptive detail? If so, how and why? An attempt will be made to answer these questions by an analysis of descriptions of the terms.