Difference between Obsession and Drive (ambition) | In everyday conversation, people often use the term “obsession” to refer to something they think is true. But in the context of OCD and related conditions, obsessions are anything but fun. Drive or ambition refers more to a mental or physical response or behavior to an obsession. You may feel the need to repeat this behavior over and over again even though you don’t really want to. Both of these terms involve abnormalities; this may give the impression that both obsessions and compulsions are the same.
Obsessions are mental disorders that refer to recurring ideas or impulses in a person’s mind. Although most of the time, the ideas and impulses in the mind will involve desires waiting to be satisfied, there are times when these unwanted ideas and impulses leave the person with the obsession somewhat mentally unbalanced. Impulses and ideas may also be persistent.
Even though the person who has an obsession doesn’t want to think about the particular obsession he has, the ideas keep popping up in his mind. In addition, a person with an obsession can have further problems if he or she refuses to think about that particular impulse or idea. Even if the person with the obsession is busy with other things, this idea will still come back, and usually it will interfere with the person’s thinking.
On the other hand, drive or ambition is also a mental disorder. However, it was actually an act. While an obsession will involve an impulse or an idea, a drive will involve the opposite. People with urges repeat certain actions that keep them glued. This repetitive action then becomes a kind of daily ritual for the person with the drive. People with this disorder never stop having the urge to perform a certain action, which makes it repeated, and then becomes the ritual of the person.
A person with an obsession will be compared to a broken record. Even if the person refuses to think about that particular obsession, the person cannot stop because it keeps coming back. Furthermore, if the person refuses to think about that particular idea or urge, the person will be further disturbed which will also result in a much more complicated mental disorder.
On the other hand, the boost will be very much comparable to a machine programmed to do the same thing over and over again. Although the urge to perform a certain action in an urge will also remain, it differs from an obsession in that the urge involves action.
On the other hand, an obsession can actually produce a drive. A person who is fixated on an action will inevitably have an obsession. For example, someone who has an urge to wash their hands may be obsessed with cleanliness. That’s why he did that special push. In that particular instance, there is a clear manifestation of the obsession through the drive exerted by the person.
- Obsession is limited to thoughts while drives involve action.
- An obsession involves persistent ideas while a drive involves persistent actions.
- People with obsessions can be compared to broken LPs. On the other hand, the boost will be very much comparable to a machine programmed for the same thing over and over again.
