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obsession

Recurrent, intrusive impulses or thoughts that are involuntary and ego-dystonic

Entityclinical sign psychopathological symptomQ6048309

Also known as obsessional thought · obsessional thinking

Instance of: clinical sign
, psychopathological symptom
Subclass of: thought disorder

Overview

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · Read full article · Text CC BY-SA 4.0

An intrusive thought is an unwelcome, involuntary thought, image, or unpleasant idea that may become an obsession, is upsetting or distressing, and can feel difficult to manage or eliminate. When such thoughts are paired with obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD), Tourette syndrome (TS), depression, autism, body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), and sometimes attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the thoughts may become paralyzing, anxiety-provoking, or persistent. Intrusive thoughts may also be associated with episodic memory, unwanted worries or memories from OCD, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), other anxiety disorders, eating disorders, or psychosis. Intrusive thoughts, urges, and images are of inappropriate things at inappropriate times, and generally have aggressive or sexual themes.

Overview

All data

27 statements · 7% with external sources · numbers in brackets are citations

Facet of: obsessive-compulsive disorder

On other databases

19 identifiers linking obsession across the web's reference databases

Data quality

statements

externally sourced

Source last edited June 12, 2026. AIDB refreshes this page daily.

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AIDB. (2026). obsession (Q6048309). Retrieved from https://aidb.si/e/obsession-Q6048309