For me, obsession comes with some sort of belief/delusion/expectation/future trip that has to be dealt with. I usually just feel it and let it pass. If it involves someone else, I am usually cautious because I know my judgement is clouded in certain mental states. Just acknowledge it and do something else. 

It's typically a feeling inside that gets evoked and ultimately is not based (fully)  in reality about the object.

I'm an 8th house (late) Gemini sun with Scorpio rising...I obsess.  

My obsessions make me feel like a monster, or predator, because I feel like if you pique my interests, I will leave no stone unturned exploring you. It is awful.  It reminds me of the Phantom of the Opera, how he was such an lonely, bitter, unloved creature, who becomes enamored and then obsessed with the beautiful young girl, etc.  When I was a kid I wanted to be the young girl, the object of the obsession, but now I see I am actually more like the weird creepy guy who you see staring at you, watching your every movement...I am sorry for that.

This is probably why a lot of people have started to get to know me and then backed off because I was too weird.  Hey, when I say I want to know you, I mean it in all its totality. If I like you, I am intense in my feeling.  If I love you, well, that's where the line of love and obsession becomes gray, and I probably can feel like a ton of bricks, and oppressive as hell.  I'm sorry, I really do not mean to be. I can't help it. If I could stop being that way in my romantic relationship, I am sure it would make things change for the better.  But I don't know how to be anything other than this. It's like being a slave.

I agree with Nutsy - obsession is FANTASTIC My life would be so empty without it. But I can see how when you obsess over people it can get a bit shady or uncomfortable. I like Piya's advice to add more to your life. I rarely stop obsessing in general, but I can switch my obsessions around to new things.

Obsession has such negative connotations. Why not think of it as being focused? You really like someone, so you're FOCUSED on making a good, solid relationship with them! Doesnt that sound lovely? And adult! These energies might not go away, so you have to twist them to your liking.

Nymzie, that is quite a take on it...BAA HAA!!!

In relationships it's very hard for me to have it not be everything.  I just like it.  But then you see really tight couples, and think,  they're not that way because they're independent and compartmentalized,  they're really into each other. 

Also funny- isn't Pluto control?  So feeling obsessed is a sort of lack of control, in a way. I'm going to have to think about this! 

I struggle hard with this sometimes and there's no easy answer. At least I have a big whack of air that helps me, though not always.

I have an 8th house stellium in libra (moon, mars, saturn, pluto) and jupiter and ceres in scorpio. My mercury is exactly trine Rx pluto in the 8th, and pluto is conjunct my saturn, so my obsessions can be big. They are of course strongest when in relation to a person I desire or have feelings for.

Sometimes journalling really helps - it's good to work out (for me at least), is the obsession purely a projection? A fantasy/mirage? If it is and I can get to the bottom of it, the obsession dissipates quite a bit.

But if my feelings are deeply bound up with someone in a real way, people around me need to realise I'll be in a different zone for a while. It completely takes over, and that's not something I'm always comfortable with. 

But it is usually worse when suppressed. Therapy can also help Plutonian/8th house types to work out some of their security/attachments issues, which I do think is where obsession comes from. It's not just strong feelings alone. Not everyone obsesses quite like we do after all! 

I always wonder what's the underlying cause of obsession, is it a symptom of something?

I don't deal well with obsession because it triggers every controlling impulse in my psyche! And I don't like when that kind of feeling comes up... it feels very constricting in a way, and ironically enough, out of control. Plus,  anytime I get obsessed with somebody, I wind up hurt in some way.

I'm starting to think I become obsessed with the object/subject of the obsession because I believe they hold a promise of happiness for me. I think I absolutely need something they can provide me in order for me to be happy. When I do things or am around other people I feel happy with, it helps my brain recognize I don't *need* that specific thing/person to be happy only... and it slowly starts to ease the intensity a little.

Of course, there are harmless obsessions too, like having an obsession with art, or music or some kind. But then when you feel so out of control of the obsessive feelings, it can be very uneasy, and it doesn't feel so harmless anymore.