Content Research

What is an obsession?

Obsessions are mainly relating to people having an uncontrollable fixation towards an object, person, location or activity.
Obsessions affect every 12 in 1000 people in the UK.
There is a differentiation in obsessional levels. Some people may have rituals and some people are overwhelmed by their obsessions. 
Obsessions are now medically recognized by medial professionals who adapt lots of different strategies to deal with these issues.
Research states that brains of the individuals who have obsessions function differently than people who don't.

The illness affects as many as 12 in every 1000 people (1.2% of the population) from young children to adults, regardless of gender or social or cultural background. In fact, it can be so debilitating and disabling that the World Health Organisation (WHO) has actually ranked OCD in the top ten of the most disabling illnesses of any kind, in terms of lost earnings and diminished quality of life.

Based on current estimates for the UK population, there are potentially around 741,504 people living with OCD at any one time.   But it is worth noting that a disproportionately high number, 50% of all these cases, will fall into the severe category, with less than a quarter being classed as mild cases.

http://beyondocd.org/ocd-facts
http://www.ocduk.org/ocd
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/mind/articles/disorders/ocd.shtml
http://understanding_ocd.tripod.com/ocd_facts_statistics.html


What kind obsessions do people indulge in?

There are many strange obsessions people have, such as coffee enemas which is when someone gets a tube, covers it in Vaseline, sticks it up their backside and pours coffee through the tube, which manages to get coffee into the blood stream faster than drinking it.

"They heat the coffee on the stove before inserting it using a Vaseline-coated hose. It means the caffeine is absorbed into the bloodstream much more quickly than drinking it."

Another strange obsession people have is going to funerals. A Brazilian man called Luis Squarisi is obsessed with attending every funeral that occurs inside the town he lives in. He listens to the local radio every morning to catch up on any deaths that has occurred, so he could attend their funeral, if no deaths were reported he goes and asks the local hospital to find out if anyone is dying or has died. He does this so much tha funeral directors actually expects him to attend all the funerals.

"When it comes to funerals, Brazilian Luis Squarisi is the life and soul of his home town of Batatais. The 42-year-old’s bizarre taste for the macabre has seen him attend every funeral in the town for the past 20 years and he has even quit his job to feed his habit.

He said: “The first thing I do every morning is turn on the radio to find out if anyone has died. If I don’t hear anything I call the hospitals.”

A local funeral director added: “We don’t want him to go to therapy, everyone expects to see him.”"

A strange obsession that people have is drinking blood. Julia Caples from Pennsylvania, USA has admitted that she drinks nearly two litres of blood from humans every month. She has been doing this like a vampire indoors for the past 30 years. Apparently this woman is not the only person who has this very strange obsession.

"Julia Caples admitted to drinking nearly two litres of human blood every month.

The 45-year-old mum-of-two, from Pennsylvania, US, has been drinking like a vampire from willing donors for the past 30 years.

And she’s not the only one with what she claims is a gory addiction."

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/drinking-blood-chewing-ice-top-2004877

Most often people would have obsessions in music, sport, games etc. While a lot of obsessions are harmful both physical and mentally to the individual concerned. The most common obsession which people indulge themselves

Why do people invest large amounts of time & money into their obsession?

People would often spend large amounts of money towards their obsession because they would like to indulge in it as much as they can. It seems like something that they can not just stop doing, and just want to do it until they feel like they can't do it anymore, which sometimes never comes.

http://hope4ocd.com/neurobiology.php

Why do people enjoy their obsessions, what value does it add to their lives?

Some obsessions are very harmless, so many people think that if they enjoy it, it is a very positive thing to do. Depending on what the obsession is, it could start from a simple hobby, but then lead to an addiction that can not be stopped.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/happiness-in-world/201004/obsession

Would people consider getting help to prevent the obsession from spiralling out of control?

Many people do seek help for their obsessions, and there are many places where they can get help for their obsessions and learn how to overcome them, and those obsessions will not end up taking so much time as they did before, and sometimes they will even manage to get rid of the obsession.

http://www.nhs.uk/livewell/addiction/Pages/addictionhome.aspx