Some Clinical Observations On the Psychodynamic Relationship Between Depression and Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms

Obsessional symptoms and depression often co-exist. There are obsessional neurotics who are subject to recurrent depressions, and there are patients with marked obsessional personality features, but not suffering from an obsessional neurosis, who develop severe obsessional symptoms in the course of their depressions only. I do not agree with those writers who maintain that the typical features of the obsessional character can be found in every case of manic-depressive illness.