OCD Common Obsessions
What Are Common OCD Obsessions?
Causing Harm by Accident
This obsession centers on fears of unintentionally hurting others through negligence, forgetfulness, or small mistakes.
Fear of Unintentional Harm: Individuals with this obsession fear they might accidentally hurt someone through carelessness or omission. They may worry about leaving the stove on, failing to secure a door, or causing a car accident without realizing it. Everyday activities—like cooking, driving, or using electrical appliances—can become sources of intense anxiety.
Endless Reviewing & Checking: To neutralize fear, people often engage in repetitive checking or mental review. They may retrace their steps, revisit locations, or seek reassurance from others that no one was harmed. Each act of checking brings brief relief, but the doubt quickly returns, creating an exhausting cycle of anxiety and verification.
Responsibility & Guilt: The root of this obsession lies in an inflated sense of moral responsibility. Even the remote possibility of having caused harm feels intolerable. This self-imposed vigilance often leads to avoidance behaviors—such as refusing to drive or cook—to prevent imagined accidents.
Causing Harm to Others on Purpose
This obsession involves distressing fears of intentionally hurting others, despite having no desire or intention to do so.
Intrusive Violent Thoughts: People with this type of OCD experience vivid, unwanted images or impulses—such as stabbing a loved one, pushing a stranger, or shouting obscenities. These thoughts appear suddenly and feel alien, creating immediate fear that they might lose control or act against their will.
Avoidance & Self-Control: To prevent harm, individuals may avoid being near others, hide sharp objects, or steer clear of crowded areas. They might also engage in mental rituals—such as repeating calming phrases or praying—to “cancel out” violent thoughts. The rituals provide short-term relief but reinforce the fear.
Shame & Misinterpretation: Because the content is disturbing, sufferers often fear being labeled violent or dangerous. They may isolate themselves to protect others. In reality, their distress and avoidance prove that these thoughts are the opposite of desire—they’re symptoms of OCD, not intent.
Contamination Fears
These obsessions revolve around germs, illness, or toxic substances that could cause harm to oneself or others.
Fear of Infection or Exposure: Contamination fears usually begin with a reasonable concern for hygiene but escalate into all-consuming anxiety. The person may fear germs on public surfaces, toxins in household products, or invisible airborne contaminants. Even brief exposure can trigger hours of mental distress.
Compulsive Cleaning & Avoidance: To relieve anxiety, individuals may wash their hands until they are raw, shower repeatedly, or disinfect objects for hours. Some designate “safe zones” where they feel protected, while avoiding public places altogether. These routines grow more rigid over time, dominating daily life.
When Safety Becomes Obsession: Despite knowing their fears are excessive, uncertainty feels intolerable. The mind continually invents new risks, spreading contamination from one object or place to another. The world itself becomes divided into “clean” and “unclean,” shrinking the person’s sense of freedom.
Pedophilic Obsessions
Pedophilic obsessions (POCD) are intrusive, unwanted fears of being sexually attracted to or harming children, despite having no such intent or desire.
Intrusive & Distressing Thoughts: These obsessions strike without warning, filling the mind with horrifying doubts or mental images. Because the thoughts are morally repugnant, they provoke immediate panic and self-loathing. The person may question what kind of person could even have such thoughts.
Avoidance & Mental Checking: To manage fear, individuals may avoid being near children, refuse to babysit, or overanalyze their reactions around kids. They might mentally “test” themselves—asking if they felt arousal or guilt—creating endless cycles of doubt and reassurance.
Shame & Isolation: Because the content is taboo, sufferers rarely speak about these thoughts, leading to shame and withdrawal. It’s vital to recognize that POCD reflects moral anxiety and fear, not sexual deviance. The presence of disgust and panic confirms that these thoughts are unwanted.
Racist Obsessions
This obsession involves intrusive, unwanted thoughts or images that appear prejudiced or discriminatory, directly contradicting the person’s beliefs.
Fear of Being or Seeming Racist: Individuals may experience sudden, intrusive racial slurs, images, or impulses that horrify them. They worry these thoughts make them immoral or secretly bigoted, even when they hold strong anti-racist values.
Excessive Monitoring & Avoidance: People often replay conversations, analyze their tone, or avoid social situations for fear of saying something offensive. They might overcorrect their language or seek reassurance that others don’t see them as racist.
Moral Distress & Exhaustion: The constant effort to prove moral purity becomes exhausting. These obsessions often overlap with scrupulosity—an OCD subtype focused on moral perfectionism—where the sufferer feels they must be flawlessly ethical to be a good person.
Religious Obsessions (Scrupulosity)
Scrupulosity involves obsessive fears of offending God, committing sin, or violating moral or spiritual laws.
Fear of Sin & Blasphemy: Individuals may worry that minor thoughts, careless words, or forgotten prayers will result in divine punishment. Even fleeting mental images can feel like unforgivable offenses.
Excessive Religious Rituals: Praying, confessing, or reading scripture may shift from acts of devotion to compulsive rituals meant to neutralize guilt. These behaviors may provide momentary relief, but they distort the original intent of faith.
Faith Turned to Fear: Unlike genuine devotion, scrupulosity is driven by anxiety, not peace. The sufferer’s relationship with faith becomes consumed by self-doubt and fear of moral failure.
Sexual Obsessions
These obsessions involve intrusive, disturbing sexual thoughts or images that contradict the person’s values and cause intense distress.
Unwanted & Taboo Thoughts: People may experience sexual images involving inappropriate, immoral, or disturbing scenarios. These thoughts are not pleasurable—they trigger immediate disgust and panic.
Fear of Meaning & Moral Judgment: Sufferers often misinterpret the thoughts as signs of hidden desire, leading to guilt, confusion, and shame. They may question their own morality or worry others could somehow “find out.”
Compulsive Analysis & Reassurance: Individuals might mentally review reactions, test themselves with sexual content, or seek reassurance that they are not “bad.” Each reassurance strengthens the cycle, making the thoughts more persistent.
Sexual Orientation Obsessions
Also known as HOCD or SO-OCD, this obsession centers on persistent doubt about one’s sexual orientation despite prior certainty.
Fear of Misidentifying Orientation: A person may question whether they are truly straight, gay, or bisexual—interpreting any fleeting thought or physical reaction as proof of a hidden truth.
Endless Mental Checking: They may test themselves by viewing specific images, recalling past attractions, or monitoring their body for signs of arousal. These mental checks never resolve the doubt, only amplify it.
Identity Uncertainty & Anxiety: The obsession has nothing to do with genuine curiosity or self-discovery. It’s driven by OCD’s intolerance of uncertainty—where not knowing feels unbearable.
Superstitious Obsessions
These obsessions involve magical thinking—the belief that certain actions, numbers, or rituals can prevent catastrophe.
Magical Thinking & Rituals: Individuals may believe they must perform specific behaviors—such as tapping, counting, or repeating words—to ward off harm. They often link unrelated events through illogical cause-and-effect relationships.
Fear of Breaking the “Rules”: Even when recognizing the irrationality, they fear that not following the ritual will invite disaster or bad luck. The anxiety becomes too strong to resist.
Reinforced by Relief: Each successful avoidance temporarily reduces fear, reinforcing the false sense of control. Over time, rituals grow more complex and time-consuming.
Symmetry & Exactness
This obsession revolves around an overpowering need for order, balance, or the feeling that things are “just right.”
Discomfort & Compulsion: People experience intense unease when objects are uneven, tasks feel incomplete, or their body movements are unbalanced. The pain can be physical as much as mental.
Repetitive Adjustments: They may arrange, realign, or repeat actions—like tapping or rewriting—until they feel symmetrical. The momentary relief reinforces the compulsion to repeat.
Endless Correction: Because the sense of “rightness” fades quickly, the person feels trapped in a constant loop of adjustment, wasting hours in pursuit of a balance that never lasts.
Transgender Obsessions
These obsessions involve intrusive doubts about one’s gender identity, even in individuals who have never questioned it before.
Fear of Misidentification: Individuals may worry that hidden feelings or thoughts mean they are secretly transgender or in denial about their gender. Each intrusive doubt triggers panic and confusion.
Checking & Reassurance: People often analyze memories, physical sensations, or emotional reactions for proof of gender certainty. They may seek reassurance from others or avoid gendered environments altogether.
Distress & Misunderstanding: These obsessions are not expressions of authentic gender questioning—they are anxiety-based doubts. The distress they cause is rooted in the fear of being “wrong” about oneself, rather than in identity exploration.