"Obsession is a commitment; you have to believe in it, because it soon takes you over." A chilling statement made by Pilar Vilades in a New York Times Magazine article regarding how time consuming an obsession can be. This is exceptionally true in cases of OCD. The human mind is truly one of this world's wonders, and watching how a person with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder behaves will cause one to cherish sanity. However, even those who are considered sane experience their share of obsessive feelings in the more benign form of infatuation. Whichever word is used to describe it, the essence of both words resides in the dominance of one's mind by a single, reoccurring thought.

The Oxford English Dictionary has obsession originally meaning "actuation by the devil or an evil spirit from without" first appearing in 1605, from the Latin obsidere, to beset, occupy. The etymology of obsession...