"Idée fixe" began as a parent category of obsession, and as a preoccupation of mind the "idée fixe" resembles today's obsessive-compulsive disorder: although the afflicted person can think, reason and act like other people, they are unable to stop a particular train of thought or action. However, in obsessive-compulsive disorder, the victim recognizes the absurdity of the obsession or compulsion, not necessarily the case with an "idée fixe", which normally is a delusion. Today, the term "idée fixe" does not denote a specific disorder in psychology, and does not appear as a technical designation in the "Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders". Nonetheless, "idée fixe" is used still as a descriptive term, and appears in dictionaries of psychology.