Mental Obsession

What is a 'Mental obsession?"  An example would be someone who drinks and demands more drinks thinking that alcohol is the solution.  This is only part of the obsession.  The second part is that this person has a solution but does not know what the problem is that they are trying to solve.  This might also be a definition of insanity: to practice a solution without knowing the problem.  It could be serial marriages, serial jobs, or serial careers.  It could be shopping in which you buy more of what you have plenty enough of.  Generally, the behavior is obsessive.  "More" is the solution.  The person keeps doing what they think will make them feel better but only to get worse, or at least "different," which is generally a move sideways and not to anything better.  I have found that mediation often points me to the problem.  Most often it is me.  This is why prayer needs friends to help figure some better solutions once the problem has been identified.  I am too insane to get sane by myself.