Psychotherapist & Jungian analyst Gary Trosclair explores the perils & potentials
of the driven personality for compulsives and their loved ones–removing the disorder from Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD)
The Healthy Compulsive Project:
Healing OCPD & Taking the Wheel of the Driven Personality
Recent Blog Posts
We’re all familiar with the results of typical hoarding behavior: newspapers piled in towers reaching for the celling, old mechanical parts bursting the seams of the garage, or a thousand rolls of toilet paper crouching in the basement just waiting to be used. This kind of hoarding can be ruinous for individuals and their families. But there is another type…
Read MoreIn my last post I argued that it’s important for us to know that we are enough; that accepting ourselves as we are right now is an essential step in achieving mental health. In this post I’ll explore the other side of the coin—wanting to change, to grow and be more than enough. That previous post was about acceptance. This…
Read MoreThe Varieties of Insecure Experience Throughout my book, blog and podcast I suggest that insecurity leads to unhealthy, compulsive behavior, behavior that’s intended to compensate for that insecurity. The three sources of insecurity that I’ve witnessed most often are about being loveable enough, morally good enough, or competent enough. These could all be present in the same person, but one…
Read MoreI got involved in the world of the obsessive-compulsive personality after working with two similar yet vastly different types of patients with compulsive drive: one managed it well, and another was run over by it. These were, respectively, healthy compulsives and unhealthy compulsives. What made the difference? Some were driving and others were being driven. Some recognized compulsive tendencies as…
Read MorePsychiatrist Carl Jung liked to ask people, and I am paraphrasing lightly, “But then what is your myth? What is the story that inspires and motivates you?” He wasn’t presuming that they were soft-headed nincompoops. He was just trying to understand the foundations by which we all live. Many of us may borrow from multiple myths to create our own…
Read MoreThe sources of obsessive-compulsive personality are found in genes, family, culture and coping strategies. The resulting disposition is relatively stable, but can shift gradually with time. Think of this as the climate. You will always have tendencies to perfect, order and control, but whether these are adaptive or maladaptive can change over time. Another factor in how obsessive-compulsive tendencies are…
Read MoreThis is the last in a series of four posts describing in greater detail four types of Obsessive-Compulsive Personality (OCP). You can have the same basic driven, perfectionist tendency of the obsessive-compulsive personality and end up a Thinker-Planner rather than a Leader-Teacher, Doer-Worker, or Server-Friend. Here are some of the questions we’ve been addressing in this series: • Which is…
Read MoreHave The Best Holiday ever! Yeah, right. Don’t even think about trying to make that happen. Sure, it’s nice to try to choose the perfect gift, card, or steamy stocking stuffers, or try to host the perfect meal or party. But bring too much controlling, driven energy to it and you might bring about the very thing you’re trying to…
Read MoreThis is the third of four posts describing in greater detail four types of obsessive-compulsive personality. These types overlap, and my terms for them are intended as invitations to flexibly explore your own tendencies–not as iron-clad categories to imprison you. If you’re trying to understand yourself or a loved one, the existing psychiatric diagnostic criteria may leave you with questions.…
Read MoreThis is the second in a series of four posts describing four different types of the obsessive-compulsive personality. Each of the four types have different gifts, talents which may be pursued with satisfaction–or enlisted to ward off anxiety. OCPD Type 2, the compulsive Worker-Doer, is compelled to accomplish, produce, achieve, and fix. They usually bring this passion to their career,…
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Your colleague Mitch works very late hours, insists on perfection in team documents, and can get pretty bent out of shape at meetings, letting people know exactly how they should be doing things. He needs to have things a certain…
As with many other subjects, Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung had a refreshingly creative take on compulsive behavior. Here are his two basic ideas: We have a deep, healthy, and compulsive urge to individuate, to develop our psychological potential. 2. If…
Compulsive. It’s not the kind of trait that will get you a wink on a dating app. But let’s re-frame this: people who have a compulsive personality have a lot to feel good about–if they manage their energies well. Let’s…
Why A Compulsive Personality Blog? It’s so hard to stop. Hard to stop working, thinking, perfecting, controlling, planning and doing. This drive can be tormenting. But it can also be fulfilling–both the doing and the finishing. What determines whether it’s…
A partner with OCPD (obsessive compulsive personality disorder), can be really difficult to live with. They usually aren’t aware how extreme their rigidity has become and are often convinced that they’re right all the time. Their perfectionistic, controlling and workaholic…
Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD) As many as one in 12 people have the medical disorder known as Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD) without knowing it. In fact, while it’s prevalent and well established as a diagnostic category, it is one of…
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Recent Posts
- How to Keep Psychological Hoarding from Crowding Your Mind and Blocking Your Fulfillment April 16, 2024
- The Battle for the Obsessive-Compulsive Mind: Growth Mindset Vs. Fixed Mindset April 2, 2024
- Enough Already. Why You Need to Know that You Are Enough. Already. March 19, 2024
- How to Get Your Compulsive Drive to Work for You. March 5, 2024
- Turning Chaos into Order: Meaning and Burden for the Obsessive-Compulsive Personality February 6, 2024
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