Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a psychological disorder included in the main diagnostic classifications DSM-5 (American Psychiatric Association) and ICD-11 (World Health Organization). As its name indicates, it is characterized by the appearance of obsessions that generate anxious symptoms in the patient and in response to which a compulsion is carried out that helps reduce said symptoms.
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 autogenic obsessions, the next two differentiate overt and covert compulsions 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, rare and different types of OCD, and various examples of OCD.
Reactive obsessions
Reactive obsessions appear in response to an external stimulus that evokes themlike a messy room or a dirty urinal. Examples of this type of obsessions can be those of contamination or disorder.
The evocative stimuli are easily identifiable and the patient must carry out the compulsion to correct said stimulus, such as cleaning the room, cleaning the bathroom or carrying out personal hygiene behaviors.
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Autogenic obsessions
These types of obsessions are “purer” obsessionswhich 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 obsessions may include immoral images or thoughts that, in addition, the patient perceives as especially annoying or egodystonic.
Obsessions in which overt compulsions appear
Overt compulsions are those that can be observed in the patient. Examples Overt compulsions may include repetition or following rituals in which the patient follows a strict order.
Obsessions not accompanied by overt compulsive behaviors
In the case of this type of OCD, the patient can carry out the compulsive behaviors internallythrough mental rituals that are not observable by others. Examples This may include counting a sequence, mentally repeating a word, etc.
Pollution TOC
Patients who suffer 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 after contact with sick people.
Patients with this type of OCD, contamination OCD or cleaning OCD, may experience negative sensations and emotions such as shame, fear or disgust. They also feel that their health is in danger and they may even catch the other person’s illness. As a result, they tend to avoid these types of situations and/or places and may use protective items such as gloves.
The compulsion they usually carry out is hygiene or washing (washing their hands many times, showering, etc.). Checking compulsions may also appear in which the patient checks that objects are clean.
Obsessions of sexual content
Patients with sexual obsessions feel anxious about mental images whose content is obscene behaviorrelated to their sexual orientation, etc.
Hoarding OCD
In this type of OCD, the patient is worried about throwing away something that could 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 also includes hoarding disorder, which is differentiated from obsessive-compulsive disorder (following Cruzado Rodríguez, JA, 2014) by:
- In OCD, hoarding is a direct consequence of obsessions.
- In OCD, the accumulation does not bring satisfaction to the patient, but is perceived as annoying.
- There are also differences in what accumulates, with OCD being more common accumulation of garbage, spoiled foodetc.
Order or symmetry OCD
This obsession is related to the correct placement of objects and/or elements such as clothing, cutlery, etc. The patient with order and symmetry OCD becomes obsessed with the need for the elements to be in harmony (set by yourself) and based on your own criteria such as size, colors, etc.
On the other hand, it can also be related to performing tasks in a certain order or according to a sequence established by the patient themselves.
religious OCD
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 obsessions
Somatic OCD is another rare type of OCD. This type of obsessions consists of fear of contracting some type of disease, but it is also related to bodily signs that may 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 of the confirmatory type.
Obsessions related to aggression
In this type of OCD, 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.
Obsessions related to harm
The patient with this type of harm-doing OCD shows Obsessions related to possible mistakes you may make and the consequences of said mistakes, such as leaving the door open, not putting the handbrake on the car, not doing calculations or work tasks correctly, etc. The compulsions in this case are verification.
Obsessions related to death
These types of obsessions are related to one’s own death or the death of someone. To reduce anxiety, the patient imagines the person alive or carries out other types of compulsions, such as checking ones.
Check OCD
In checking OCD, also called checking OCD, checking compulsions often accompany the following obsessions:
- Obsessions related to assault: the patient verifies that, in fact, 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 ethe robbery: like checking to see if you have locked the car or the door at home.
- Obsessions related to health: such as checking that the medication has been taken.
counting OCD
The patient with this type of OCD may feel the obsession with having to count a series of elements They may even have to count all the elements of a given scene. On the other hand, counting can also be considered a compulsion if the behavior carried out aims to reduce the anxiety generated by the obsession. Counting OCD is also called arithmomania.
Repetition OCD
In this case Obsessions can consist of images, 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.
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This article is merely informative, at 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.
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References
- American Psychiatric Association (2014). DSM-5. Reference guide to the diagnostic criteria of the DSM-5-Breviary. Madrid: Panamericana Medical Editorial.
- Cruzado Rodríguez, JA (2014) Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Related Disorders. En Caballo, VE, Salazar, IC and Carrobles, JA (2014) Manual of Psychopathology and Psychological Disorders. Madrid: Pyramid.
Bibliography
- Botella, 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: McGraw Hill.
- World Health Organization (WHO) (2018) International Classification of Diseases, 11th revision. Recovered from https://icd.who.int/es