The Emergence of Obsession

In Chapter 2, Davis goes over the term monomania and how it is responsible for paving the way of obsessive diseases, obsessive practices, and a general culture of attention, focus, and specialization. Monomania was the first diagnosis specifically defining what we now call obsession. In the 19^th Century, monomania was the notion that the mind could be imbalanced or made unsound by a single idea or train of thought. It was defined as a disease in which monomaniacs are aware of the wrongness or inappropriateness of their behavior while being able to resist the specific action of thought. Around 1810, monomania was introduced by Jean Esquirol. Before then, Philippe Pinel’s term “partial insanity” was used to imply that only a single idea of the mind had been affected inside of a patient’s head. The diagnosis of monomania opened the doors to the idea of insanity to the population. After Esquirol invented the term, monomania became the most frequently made diagnosis for patients entering asylums. The number of considered mentally ill people with monomania increased dramatically, but was soon dismissed and replaced toward the middle of the century by the newly redefined hysteria, neurosis, neurasthenia, and neurotic obsession/OCD. Esquirol thought of monomania as a hybrid of melancholia and mania. Melancholia is allowing a self-awareness of one’s depressed mood, as we discussed in class. Monomania became integrated inside of our culture, where it was present in trails and even literature, such as “Frankenstein.” I found it crazy how monomania was viewed as a lifestyle for people back then! Monomaniacs’ lives were devoted to an idée fixe or a preoccupation with a single idea, passion, or train of thought. If you ask me, monomania and obsession sound exactly the same between then and now.