My Revenge against OCPD

OCPD is good for you!

      No, the title is not erroneous. OCPD is indeed a very destructive condition but let me demonstrate how, as inconceivable as it may appear, it can become a constructive condition. No, this is not a “guru-ish” statement nor an attempt to refrigerator poetry; it simply is the result of self-observation and introspection.

      As with any phenomenon that occurs in this psychological reality that we live in, OCPD can be viewed as part of a continuum. In other words, OCPD would constitute a condition situated at the extremes of a trait that we would call “obsessiveness”, the later a trait or a cluster of traits spanning two poles:

      Over this continuum, obsessiveness can manifest itself through a myriad of forms, contents and intensities. The extremes (or poles) obviously constitute the utmost intensities of this trait and so as Mr. OCPD tends to be at the destructive end of the continuum (or constructive end as well, as I explain in the following paragraphs), he can learn to discover the productive counterpart of this exact same trait.

      Let’s apply this theory to the concrete world: Mr. OCPD has an obsessive personality and he “gets stuck” on some weird thoughts (eg. “why do I have an asymmetrical chest?!”) at a very high intensity; high psychological distress is caused. It is negative and dysfunctional. How to make this exact same obsessiveness a positive and functional one? By obsessing and “getting stuck” on some productive/constructive/positive thoughts for a while: focusing with a very high intensity on your daily successes or on the joyful encounters you’ve experienced; spending lengthy amounts of time on improving a work; etc.

      One warning is yet to be yielded: notice how I was careful in the preceding diagram not to include positive and negative at either ends of the continuum, rather constructive and destructive. Indeed, as I view the left pole labelled as a rather positive one, the relation is not wholly mutual: for example Mr. OCPD improving his work (a constructive task) to a point where he is unable to break free or to the point where other important tasks are ignored. When this happens, the situation tilts towards another destructive end of the trait, into dysfunctionality. A more accurate diagram would then be the following:

      The "negativity/positivity and constructivism/destructivism” apsect of a behaviour or thought are all very dependent on the individual, however the nuance to be made is that a constructive and positive behaviour (eg. focusing on improving your work) can become negative when carried out to a total extreme of the continuum. As with any psychological phenomenon, what we seek is an equilibrium between two extremes; whenever a total extreme is met (either on one side or the other), then we are faced with a dysfunction.

      After all, concentration is a behaviour that locates itself in the constructive part of the obsessiveness continuum: to concentrate is to “be stuck” on a particular constructive and positive thought (or cluster of thoughts) during a certain amount of time and without letting your mind wander away towards other destructive and negative thoughts. Conversely, OCPD is to “be stuck” on a particular destructive and (negative or positive) thought (or cluster of thoughts) during a certain amount of time and without letting your mind wander away towards other constructive and positive thoughts.

      Briefly, the same fundamental trait, obsessiveness, can take on many constructive/positive or destructive/negative forms along with differing contents and intensities, depending both on the environment and on the individual. What we need to bear in mind is that OCPD “can be useful”!