Origins of Obsession

In chapter 1, Davis goes over the origin of the word obsession, where he points out the terms various meanings throughout history. He begins this chapter by saying how an obsession involved a battle of one’s self, where a compulsive self struggled with an observing self. He says how this described war and even demonic possession! I never thought that this word could have ever had so much meaning to us back then. He then sheds light upon the mental illnesses of the eighteenth century, which were either under the melancholy, lunacy, or idiocy grouping. Davis then mentions recognized mental conditions of hysteria, hypochondria, spleen, and vapors, from which the last two mentioned I knew nothing about. Davis’ general breakdown of the word obsession helped me to gain a better insight to our current meaning of obsession. It just shows us how long the word obsession has been around and how it has been redefined.