16 Types of OCD and Their Symptoms

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a psychological disorder included in the main diagnostic classifications DSM-5 (American Psychiatric Association) and ICD-11 (World Organization for health). As its name indicates, it is characterized by the appearance of obsessions that generate symptoms. anxious to the patient and before which he carries out a compulsion that helps to reduce said symptomatology.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is a category that has different subtypes. In the following Online Psychology article, we offer you a list with the main types of OCD and their symptoms. The first two types differentiate reactive obsessions and autogenous obsessions, the next two differentiate compulsions overt and covert and the rest constitute different types of OCD depending on the content of the obsessions and / or the type of compulsions We will look at both the most common types of OCD, as well as the rare and different types of OCD, and various examples of OCD.

Index

1. Reactive obsessions
2. Autogenous obsessions
3. Obsessions in which manifest compulsions appear
4. Obsessions not accompanied by overt compulsive behaviors
5. Contamination TOC
6. Obsessions of sexual content
7. Accumulation TOC
8. TOC of order or symmetry
9. Religious OCD
10. Somatic obsessions
11. Obsessions related to aggression
12. Harm-related obsessions
13. Obsessions related to death
14. Check TOC
15. Counting TOC
16. Repeat OCD

Reactive obsessions appear in response to an external stimulus that evokes them, like a messy room or a dirty urinal. Examples This type of obsession may be pollution or disorder.

Evocative stimuli are easily identifiable and the patient has to carry out the compulsion to correct this stimulus, such as cleaning the room, cleaning the bathroom or carrying out hygiene behaviors personal.

Here you can see what the Obsessive compulsive disorder.

These kinds of obsessions are "purer" obsessions, which is why this type of OCD is often called Pure OCD. Unlike the previous ones, they are not elicited by an external stimulus, but rather appear abruptly in consciousness.

Examples This type of obsession may be immoral images or thoughts that the patient also perceives as especially annoying or egodistonic.

The manifest compulsions are those that can be observed in the patient. Examples Obvious compulsions can be repetition or the following of rituals in which the patient follows a strict order.

In the case of this type of OCD, the patient can carry out the compulsive behaviors internally, via mental rituals that are not observable by others. Examples of it they can be the count of some sequence, the repetition of some word of mental form, etc.

Patients suffering from pollution-related obsessions have the feeling of being dirty or infected from having been in contact with dirty places or objects. They can even appear in contact with sick people.

Patients with this type of OCD, pollution OCD or cleansing OCD, may experience negative feelings and emotions such as shame, fear, or disgust. They also feel that their health is in danger and they can even catch the disease from the other person. As a result, they tend to avoid these types of situations and / or places and may use protective items such as gloves.

The compulsion that they usually carry out is that of hygiene or washing (washing their hands many times, taking a shower, etc.). Checking compulsions may also appear in which the patient checks that objects are clean.

Patients with sexual obsessions feel anxious about mental images whose content is obscene behavior, related to their sexual orientation, etc.

In this type of OCD, the patient is worried about throwing away something that might be valuable or it may serve you in the future. That is why the patient accumulate objects or what you don't want to get rid of.

The DSM-5 diagnostic classification of the American Psychiatric Association^[1] It also includes hoarding disorder, which differs from obsessive compulsive disorder (following Cruzado Rodríguez, J.A., 2014)^[2] for:

• In OCD, hoarding is a direct consequence of obsessions.
• In OCD, hoarding does not bring satisfaction to the patient, but rather is perceived as annoying.
• There are also differences in what accumulates, being more common in OCD the accumulation of garbage, spoiled food, etc.

This obsession is related to the correct placement of objects and / or items such as clothing, cutlery, etc. The patient with order and symmetry OCD becomes obsessed with need for the elements to be in harmony (established by himself) and based on his own criteria such as size, colors, etc.

On the other hand, it can also be related to the performance of tasks in a certain order or based on a sequence established by the patient himself.

In this type of OCD, religious obsessions are related to blasphemy, with thoughts that can be punished according to religion by the God of this, which generates anxious symptoms in the patient. In response to these obsessions, the patient carries out compulsive behaviors such as praying or confessing. It could be considered one of the rare types of OCD.

Somatic OCD is another of the rare types of OCD. This type of obsession consists of fear of contracting some kind of disease, but it is also related to bodily signs that can make people uncomfortable or that are socially frowned upon, such as sweating excessively, smelling bad, etc. The compulsions that usually accompany this type of obsession are evidential in nature.

In this type of OCD, the obsession has a aggressive and violent content against oneself (such as suicide or self-harm) or against others (hitting other people, insulting them, etc.). These types of patients may feel shame, guilt or fear of losing control and hurting others or themselves.

The patient with this type of OCD from doing harm shows obsessions related to possible mistakes he may make and the consequences of such mistakessuch as leaving the door open, not setting the parking brake on the car, not performing calculations or work tasks well, etc. The compulsions in this case are testing.

These kinds of obsessions are related to one's own death or someone's death. To reduce anxiety, the patient imagines the person alive or carries out other types of compulsions, such as checking.

In checking OCD, also called checking OCD, checking compulsions often accompany the following obsessions:

• Obsessions related to aggression: the patient verifies that, indeed, he has not hurt himself or others.
• Obsessions related to personal security: such as checking that the gas has been turned off.
• Obsessions related to el stole: like the verification of having locked the car or the door of the house.
• Obsessions related to Health: such as checking that the medication has been taken.

The patient with this type of OCD may feel the obsession with having to count a series of items that may even have to count all the elements of a certain scene. On the other hand, the act of counting can also be considered a compulsion if the behavior that is carried out aims to reduce the anxiety generated by the obsession. Counting OCD is also called arithmomania.

In this case obsessions can consist of pictures, words, songs, etc. which the patient cannot get rid of. In the case of compulsions, repetition may consist of performing a behavior a specific number of times, for example, checking ten times that you have closed the door, etc.

In the following article you can see How to overcome OCD.

This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

If you want to read more articles similar to Types of OCD and their symptoms, we recommend that you enter our category of Clinical psychology.

1. American Psychiatric Association (2014). DSM-5. Reference guide to the diagnostic criteria of the DSM-5-Breviary. Madrid: Editorial Médica Panamericana.
2. Cruzado Rodríguez, J.A. (2014) Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Related Disorders. In Caballo, V.E., Salazar, I.C. And Carrobles, J.A. (2014) Manual of Psychopathology and Psychological Disorders. Madrid: Pyramid.

• Bottle, C. and Robert, C. (2009) Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. In Belloch, A., Sandín, B. and Ramos, F. (2009) Manual of Psychopathology. Revised Edition. Volume II. Madrid: McGrawHill.
• World Health Organization (WHO) (2018) International Classification of Diseases, 11th revision. Recovered from https://icd.who.int/es