What are common OCD obsessions?

Common obsessive thoughts in OCD include:
  • Fear of being contaminated by germs or dirt or contaminating others.
  • Fear of losing control and harming yourself or others.
  • Intrusive sexually explicit or violent thoughts and images.
  • Excessive focus on religious or moral ideas.

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What are the most common OCD obsessions?

Common obsessions include: fears of contamination/germs, causing harm (perhaps by hitting someone with a car that you don't mean to), making mistakes (leaving the door unlocked), disasters (causing a fire), certain numbers (such as 13 and 666), unwanted violent thoughts (thought of harming a loved one), blasphemous ...

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What are common OCD behaviors?

Common types of compulsive behaviour in people with OCD include:
  • cleaning and hand washing.
  • checking – such as checking doors are locked or that the gas is off.
  • counting.
  • ordering and arranging.
  • hoarding.
  • asking for reassurance.
  • repeating words in their head.
  • thinking "neutralising" thoughts to counter the obsessive thoughts.

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What are obsessions in OCD?

Obsessions are repeated thoughts, urges, or mental images that cause anxiety. Common symptoms include: Fear of germs or contamination. Unwanted forbidden or taboo thoughts involving sex, religion, or harm.

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What are the 7 forms of OCD?

Common Types of OCD
  • Aggressive or sexual thoughts. ...
  • Harm to loved ones. ...
  • Germs and contamination. ...
  • Doubt and incompleteness. ...
  • Sin, religion, and morality. ...
  • Order and symmetry. ...
  • Self-control.

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Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD): Obsessions, Triggers, and Treatment | Mass General Brigham

34 related questions found

What is the rarest OCD?

Pedophilia OCD

It can occur in people who have their own history of childhood abuse, because they may have been told somewhere along the way that being a victim of abuse means they will go on to abuse someone else.

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What is the hardest form of OCD?

Primarily obsessional OCD has been called "one of the most distressing and challenging forms of OCD." People with this form of OCD have "distressing and unwanted thoughts pop into [their] head frequently," and the thoughts "typically center on a fear that you may do something totally uncharacteristic of yourself, ...

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What are examples of obsessive thoughts?

Types and examples of obsessions
  • Worrying you've already harmed someone by not being careful enough. ...
  • Worrying you're going to harm someone because you will lose control. ...
  • Violent intrusive thoughts or images of yourself doing something violent or abusive.

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What are the four major types of obsessions?

While all types of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) include a pattern of obsessions and compulsions, the obsessions or intrusive thoughts themselves can take on different themes. OCD manifests in four main ways: contamination/washing, doubt/checking, ordering/arranging, and unacceptable/taboo thoughts.

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Can OCD make you obsess about anything?

OCD involves two key components: obsessions — intrusive and upsetting involuntary thoughts — which can center on any number of topics, including a fear of germs, a need to be perfect, or a dread that something bad will happen to someone you love, Dr. Yip explains.

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Is overthinking OCD or anxiety?

While both mental health conditions involve repetitive worrying, people with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) often engage in unwanted and repetitive behavior in response to their worry. People with anxiety, however, tend to overthink their worry, but don't act in specific responsive manners.

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What is the biggest symptom of OCD?

The main symptoms of OCD are obsessions and compulsions that interfere with normal activities. For example, symptoms may often prevent you from getting to work on time. Or you may have trouble getting ready for bed in a reasonable amount of time.

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What is the most common obsession?

Common Obsessions in OCD
  • Worry about living a moral enough life.
  • Fear of losing or forgetting something important.
  • Worry about how straight or even objects are.
  • An inability to make decisions on what to keep and what to throw away.
  • A fixation on certain numbers and/or colors being good/correct or bad/incorrect.

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What are the hidden signs of OCD?

There are, however, some little known signs or symptoms that are also a part of dealing with OCD. These can include body hyperawareness, fear of emotional contamination, perfectionism, obsession with morality, and fear of harming others. Most believe that these obsessions stem from anxiety.

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What does an OCD episode look like?

OCD obsessions are repeated, persistent and unwanted thoughts, urges or images that are intrusive and cause distress or anxiety. You might try to ignore them or get rid of them by performing a compulsive behavior or ritual. These obsessions typically intrude when you're trying to think of or do other things.

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What is mild OCD like?

Mild OCD can look like regular OCD but to a lesser intensity, such as: Washing your hands after certain food prep. Counting the number of times you may step/walk in the home. Some hoarding behaviors such as keeping specific types of items.

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What are the 4 R's of OCD?

In a series of graphics, Earnshaw breaks down the 4 Rs: relabeling, reattributing, refocusing, and revaluing—a therapy technique developed by psychology Jeffrey Schwartz that's often used in treatment for OCD.

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What is a real life example of OCD?

An example of real event OCD is that someone who drank a glass of wine while pregnant might have persistent thoughts that their child will have health issues as a consequence. As a result, they might seek reassurance from multiple doctors. However, this reassurance alone is unlikely to soothe those obsessive thoughts.

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What are unhealthy obsessive thoughts?

“Obsessive thoughts” is a term that refers to unwelcome and upsetting thoughts you can't seem to get out of your head. Also known as intrusive thoughts, this type of thinking is a symptom of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).

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What do people with OCD struggle with?

People with OCD experience recurrent and persistent thoughts, images or impulses that are intrusive and unwanted (obsessions). They also perform repetitive and ritualistic actions that are excessive, time-consuming and distressing (compulsions).

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What not to say to someone with OCD?

5 Things You Should Not Say to Someone with OCD
  • #1 It's all in your head. Technically, OCD is all in someone's head. ...
  • #2 Just stop. ...
  • #3 You're lucky to have OCD. ...
  • #4 I'm a little OCD too. ...
  • #5 Is your OCD gone?

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Does OCD get worse with age?

Symptoms fluctuate in severity from time to time, and this fluctuation may be related to the occurrence of stressful events. Because symptoms usually worsen with age, people may have difficulty remembering when OCD began, but can sometimes recall when they first noticed that the symptoms were disrupting their lives.

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What famous genius had OCD?

Nikola Tesla. According to contemporary research reported by organizations like the International OCD Foundation and National Geographic, Serbian inventor Nikola Tesla suffered from severe obsessive-compulsive disorder throughout his adult life.

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What are the horrors of pure OCD?

Pure OCD sufferers may: act like they have 10 seconds to defuse a bomb on a regular basis. seem preoccupied and distant because they are trying to solve the world's greatest mystery. behave like they are receiving devastating news through invisible headphones while talking to you.

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