The most common type of obsession, especially in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), is fear of contamination (germs, dirt), followed by fears of causing harm (to self or others), needing perfect order/symmetry, intrusive violent/sexual/religious thoughts, and excessive doubt, often leading to compulsive behaviors like washing, checking, or repeating actions.
Obsessions are repeated thoughts, urges, or mental images that are intrusive, unwanted, and make most people anxious. Common obsessions include: Fear of germs or contamination. Fear of forgetting, losing, or misplacing something. Fear of losing control over one's behavior.
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.
Types of OCD
4 Rare Forms of OCD
Relationship obsessive-compulsive disorder (ROCD) includes obsessions over a close or intimate relationship or partner and may include an obsessive focus on how a partner is unreliable or untrustworthy. Obsessive distrust in a relationship may link to depression, anxiety, and violence in a relationship.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are two common and debilitating neuropsychiatric disorders. OCD is characterized by recurrent obsessions and/or compulsions,1 and ADHD is a developmental disorder that begins in childhood and continues into adulthood.
Leonardo DiCaprio lived with mild/moderate OCD for most of his adult life. He often feels the urge to walk through doorways multiple times.
The 15-Minute Rule for OCD is a Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) technique where you delay performing a compulsion for 15 minutes when an obsessive thought triggers anxiety, allowing the urge to lessen naturally as you practice exposure and response prevention (ERP). It teaches your brain that discomfort decreases without the ritual, building resilience and breaking the obsessive-compulsive cycle by gradually increasing tolerance for uncertainty and distressing feelings.
Obsession triggers
For example, someone with intrusive thoughts about contamination might be triggered by seeing a dirty room. Likewise, if a person has thoughts about harming others, they could be triggered when they see objects that could cause harm, like knives.
Top 10 stories of obsession
Obsession symptoms
Obsessions are persistent unwanted thoughts, mental images, or urges that generate feelings of anxiety, disgust, or discomfort. Some common obsessions include fear of contamination, obsession with symmetry, the fear of acting blasphemously, sexual obsessions, and the fear of possibly harming others or themselves.
Certain types of trauma are more likely to influence OCD. These include: Childhood abuse or neglect. Witnessing violent events.
Types Of OCD
What are some uncommon types of OCD? Examples include Pedophilia OCD, Existential OCD, Real Event OCD, and Scrupulosity. These forms involve obsessions and compulsions that aren't always visible but can cause significant emotional distress.
Yes, Ariana Grande has confirmed her OCD diagnosis, discussing it in a 2018 interview with British Vogue, where she described experiencing primarily intrusive thoughts rather than just compulsive behaviors.
Nikola Tesla was born in Eastern Europe in what is now Croatia in 1856. From an early age, Tesla demonstrated both genius and obsessive traits, the latter of which it seem to have haunted him throughout his life. We now know that for many individuals, OCD begins in childhood and adolescence.
The ADHD "30% Rule" is a guideline suggesting that executive functions (like self-regulation, planning, and emotional control) in people with ADHD develop about 30% slower than in neurotypical individuals, meaning a 10-year-old might function more like a 7-year-old in these areas, requiring adjusted expectations for maturity, task management, and behavior. It's a tool for caregivers and adults with ADHD to set realistic goals, not a strict scientific law, helping to reduce frustration by matching demands to the person's actual developmental level (executive age) rather than just their chronological age.
We showed that people with OCD (both children and adults) have a thinner bilateral inferior parietal cortex, a part of the cortex located near the temples that's responsible for a range of brain functions, including interpreting sensations or experiences (Boedhoe et al. 2018).
The ADHD "2-Minute Rule" suggests doing any task taking under two minutes immediately to build momentum, but it often backfires by derailing focus due to weak working memory, time blindness, and transition difficulties in people with ADHD. A better approach is to write down these quick tasks on a separate "catch-all" list instead of interrupting your main work, then schedule specific times to review and tackle them, or use a slightly longer timeframe like a 5-minute rule to prevent getting lost down "rabbit holes".
Other experts think there may be chemical differences within some peoples' brains that might make you more likely to have obsessions. Environmental factors may also play a role in causing obsessions, especially if you're experiencing high levels of stress.
“Individuals with anxious attachment styles and/or low self-esteem may be more prone to experiencing limerence,” says Duke. “Those with ADHD may also be more prone to experiencing limerence, due to a tendency to hyperfocus at times.” Limerance does have some overlapping characteristics with addiction.