Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

OCD is characterized by unwanted, intrusive thoughts or images that cause significant distress, followed by efforts to eliminate or neutralize it, only to find that this pattern repeats itself again later. It is often a very private, internal battle that affects an estimated 2.3% of the population according to NIMH. I worry that the percentage is higher than that. I can’t tell you how many clients come in to work on goals to reduce their anxiety (with a previous diagnosis of anxiety) and they learn they’ve been misdiagnosed and have actually been struggling with OCD. Also, OCD tends to run in families (there is a genetic component) and older generations are infrequently or inaccurately diagnosed.

OCD is a self-perpetuating cycle best described by the words of one of the world’s leading experts in OCD:

“First, there’s a trigger; something that is noticed in your physical, social, or mental worlds. Second, it instantly activates an obsession — thoughts, feelings, or impulses that are distressful. Almost simultaneously you feel fear, guilt, apprehension, dread, anger, or any number and combination of distressing emotions. These three events — exposure to a trigger, activation of an obsession, and feelings of distress — are sensed as happening together as a single event. Therefore the terms “trigger,” “obsession,” and “distress” are used interchangeably to refer to this seemingly single event — the spike. Your natural reaction is to turn it off as quickly as possible. Finally, by trial and error, you find out that by repeating certain actions and/or mental gyrations you get temporary relief until the next obsession hits.” - Paul Munford, PhD, IOCDF

There are many categories and subtypes of OCD, meaning that the triggers are unique to you, but the cycle described above is the same regardless of the trigger.

Common OCD obsessions involve the following categories or subtypes (it’s not uncommon to identify with many of these):

  • Checking OCD

  • Contamination OCD

  • Counting OCD

  • Emotional Contamination OCD

  • Existential OCD

  • False Memory OCD

  • Harm OCD

  • Hit and Run OCD

  • Hoarding OCD

  • Illness OCD

  • “Just Right” OCD

  • Magical Thinking OCD

  • Mental Illness OCD

  • Ordering OCD

  • Pedophilia OCD

  • Perfectionism OCD

  • Perinatal OCD / Postpartum OCD

  • Purely Obsessional OCD (Pure-O)

  • Real Events OCD

  • Relationship OCD

  • Scrupulosity (Moral) OCD

  • Sensorimotor OCD

  • Sexual Orientation OCD

  • Suicidal Ideation OCD

  • Symmetry OCD