Expert Help for OCD

Take Your Life Back from OCD

Offering expert treatment for all types of OCD, including unwanted obsessional thoughts. Our OCD treatment program is typically 10 weeks. We offer twice-weekly sessions, groups, and intensive programs. Intensive program can be in person or online. Low cost options available. Contact us...

Behavioral Wellness Clinic

392 Merrow Rd, Suite E, Tolland, CT 06084
Office: (860) 830-7838

OCD TYPES

Types of Obsessions

Types of Compulsions

OCD Tests

OCD Related Disorders

OCDTYPES

Obsessive-compulsive disorder comes in many forms

About Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a brain-based anxiety-related disorder that causes considerable suffering that can interfere with all areas of life. OCD has many symptom profiles, also called OCD subtypes or OCD symptom dimensions.

What's an Obsession?

In OCD, obsessions are ideas, thoughts, impulses, or images that keep coming back. They are not enjoyable, rather obsessions are unwanted and upsetting, causing severe anxiety or distress. The content of these obsessions is sometimes grouped into different areas, including: aggression (fears of harming others), contamination (fears of being dirty), sex, religion, and exactness. What separates OCD obsessions from normal obsessions experienced by everyone are the frequency, intensity, and discomfort. OCD sufferers attach much greater meaning and threat to these thoughts than others. The obsessions won't just "go away."

What's a Compulsion?

In order to cope with the obsessions, people with OCD engage in repeated behaviors or thoughts, known as compulsions, to make themselves feel safer. Compulsions are rituals that the person believes reduce the risk of the obsessions coming true, or at least reduce the anxiety they produce. However, the compulsions are not really useful. They do not prevent the feared consequence or are clearly excessive. Compulsions or rituals take up so much time that they get in the way of work, school, and family obligations.

Source: Ruscio, A. M., Stein, D. J., Chiu, W. T., & Kessler, R. C. (2010). The epidemiology of obsessive-compulsive disorder in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication. Molecular Psychiatry, 15, 53-63.

OCD has a wide range of varied symptom profiles. The table above presents a list of the most common obsessions and compulsions, as reported in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication (NCS-R), a nationwide survey, illustrating the breadth of symptom expression. Among those with OCD, 19% reported symptoms in just one area shown, but 15% reported symptoms in two areas, 9% noted concerns in three areas, 30% had concerns in four areas, and 27% identified concerns in five or more areas. This makes it very clear that many people with OCD have more than one OCD type.

Types of OCD

Researchers have classified the many symptoms of OCD into four major categories:

Contamination and Washing
Doubts About Accidental Harm and Checking
Symmetry, Arranging, Counting, and Just Right OCD
Unacceptable Taboo Thoughts and Mental Rituals

People can have more than one type of OCD. Learn about the four types of OCD.

OCD and a Pandemic

Covid-19 has been stressful and triggering to germaphobes everywhere, and at the same time, exposure based treatment has never been so challenging. Treating OCD has entered uncharted territory due to the everpresent and real threat of COVD-19. OCD sufferers who've had seemingly irrational fears have suddenly become rational, and people without OCD are cleaning and sanitizing well beyond the normal standard prior to the pandemic. The good news is that it is still possible to do exposure-based therapy in a safe and effective way. Contact the New England OCD Institute for more info.

The Impact of OCD

It is estimated that between 2 and 3 million people are suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder in the United States. About one in fifty people have had symptoms of OCD at some point in their lives, with one percent suffering within the last year. OCD afflicts people of all races, faiths, nationalities, and ethnic groups. OCD causes great suffering to patients and their families, as up to 10 hours per day may be devoted to performing rituals. OCD has been classified by the World Health Organization as one the leading causes of disability worldwide.

Sexual Thoughts in OCD

Unwanted Concerns in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

Many people with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) have sexual obsessions, or unwanted sexual thoughts. This may include sexual orientation fears, which is sometimes referred to as sexual orientation OCD (SO-OCD) or homosexual (HOCD). These are not the same as fantasies or being homophobic.

Sexual thoughts in OCD may include:

the obsessive fear of being or becoming LGBTQ
intrusive, unwanted mental images of upsetting sexual behaviors
the fear that one may become a pedophile
the fear of becoming sexually aggressive

Getting Help for Your Child’s OCD When Parents are Divorced

...and co-parenting has gotten acrimonious

When your child has OCD, it affects the whole family. Relationships with parents, siblings, and daily routines are often disrupted as the compulsions start to take over the home. Your child needs help, but when parents are on bad terms, it can be hard make treatment for your child work — especially if your child is living in two different homes. Learn how to manage your feelings toward your partner so that you can focus on what is best for your child and get the OCD under control.

Read about Getting Help for Your Child’s OCD When Parents are Divorced

Good Help is Hard to Find

People with OCD often struggle with symptoms for well over a decade before finally getting real help. It's not uncommon for OCD sufferers to spend years going through a chain of clinicians and medications without even receiving a correct diagnosis.

Sadly, most mental health workers aren't so good with OCD. Moreover, there's a large chance they won't be able to identify OCD, even if the symptoms are presented to them.

Read about Why People With OCD Need an OCD Specialist.

Top Seven Myths About OCD

One stereotype is that people with OCD are neat and tidy to a fault. Actually, nothing could be further from the truth. Although many people with OCD wash because they are concerned about dirt and germs, being tidy is actually not a typical symptom of the disorder. Almost two-thirds of people with OCD also have hoarding disorder...

Learn more about the Top 12 Myths about OCD.

At OCD Types you will learn about the many types, symptoms, signs, and forms of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and related OC Spectrum Disorders. OCD is a brain disorder that can cause repeated washing, compulsive cleaning, obsessions about harming others, anxiety, and hoarding. OCD has many sub-types, or symptom profiles. There are four primary types of OCD. As a result, it often goes undiagnosed or misdiagnosed. At the OCD Types website you can take a self-test for OCD, find a treatment program, and get online help for OCD.