What Are The Four Types Of OCD?

OCD, or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, is a mental health condition that affects people in different ways. There are four main types of OCD, each with its own unique set of symptoms. Here, we give you a brief overview of what are the 4 types of OCD, and how they differ from each other. If you think you may be suffering from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, it is important to consult a mental health expert such as a psychiatrist or therapist, and seek treatment. 

OCD Overview

OCD or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder can manifest in a variety of ways, but typically it involves obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviours. Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a mental health condition that involves:

• Obsessions: these symptoms involve having unwanted thoughts or ideas that disrupt your life and make it hard for you to focus on other things.

• Compulsions: these symptoms involve wanting to do things in a specific way in response to the obsessions.

What are the 4 types of OCD

There are four types of OCD.

1. Hoarding OCD 

This is where a person compulsively collects items and experiences difficulty discarding them. Symptoms include: 

• Persistently worrying that throwing something away could bring harm to you or someone else

• A need to collect a certain number of items to protect yourself from harm

• Experiencing  extreme fear of throwing away an important or essential item by accident

• Experiencing a compulsion to buy multiples of the same item

• Feeling incomplete if you can’t find a possession or accidentally lose it

• Experiencing a compulsion to check your possessions repeatedly

2.  Cleaning and contamination OCD 

People with this type often feel the need to wash their hands repeatedly and clean items frequently to avoid spreading perceived contamination. Symptoms include: 

• Persistently worrying about germs or sickness

• Having thoughts about feeling dirty or unclean (physically and/or mentally)

• Persistently fearing exposure to blood, toxic substances, viruses, and/or other sources of contamination

• Vehemently avoiding possible sources of contamination

• Experiencing compulsion to get rid of items you consider dirty (even if they aren’t dirty)

• Experiencing compulsion to wash or clean contaminated items

• Following specific cleaning or washing rituals, such as washing your hands or scrubbing a surface a certain number of times

3. Rumination and intrusive thoughts 

This is where a person is preoccupied with thoughts of sex or inappropriate violent behaviour. Symptoms include: 

• Frequently having intrusive thoughts that are often sexual or violent in nature

• Experiencing recurring guilt, shame, and other distress about your thoughts

• Constantly questioning your sexual orientation

• Persistently worrying that you’ll act on your intrusive thoughts

• Frequently worrying that you’ll harm yourself or someone else unknowingly

• Experiencing obsessions about religious ideas that feel wrong

• Feeling responsible for causing bad things to happen

• Feeling the compulsion to hide things you could use as a weapon

• Seeking reassurance that you won’t act on intrusive thoughts

• Seeking reassurance that you’re not a bad person

• Performing or thinking of rituals to dispel or cancel out your thoughts

• Frequently reviewing your daily activities to make sure you haven’t hurt anyone 

• Retracing your steps

4. Checking OCD

This is where a person checks things compulsively, over and over again to make sure they're done right. Symptoms include: 

• Needing items or belongings to be aligned in a certain way

• Having an extreme need for symmetry 

• Needing symmetry in actions (if you scratch your left arm, you also must scratch your right arm)

• Experiencing compulsion to arrange your belongings until they feel “just right”

• Feeling incomplete when items aren’t exact

• Making counting rituals, such as needing to count to a specific number a certain number of times

• Experiencing magical thinking, or believing something bad will happen if you don’t arrange or organise things in the right way

• Making organisation rituals or specific ways of aligning objects

All four types of OCD can be debilitating, making it difficult for sufferers to live a normal life. If you experience OCD symptoms, talk to a mental healthcare provider such as a therapist or psychiatrist. They can diagnose OCD and work with you to find the most effective treatment for you.

Your psychiatrist will ask you about the types of symptoms you experience, and whether they cause distress. A diagnosis of OCD generally requires that symptoms affect your daily function and consume at least an hour of your day.

Causes of OCD

OCD is a complex condition that can be caused by a variety of different things.

For some people, OCD is caused by a traumatic event, such as abuse or a natural disaster. Others may have a genetic predisposition to OCD. In 2001, a meta-analytic review reported that a person with OCD is 4 times more likely to have another family member with OCD than a person who does not have the disorder. 

And finally, stress can be a major contributor to OCD symptoms. Though stress does not actually cause OCD, major stresses or traumatic life events may trigger OCD in someone already predisposed to the disorder.

Treatments for OCD

If you or someone you know is dealing with OCD, it's important to know that there are treatments available that can help. If you're seeking treatment for OCD, it's important to talk to your mental health professional about what options are available and what might work best for you.

For checking and counting, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is the most common treatment. This involves working with a therapist to identify and change the thoughts and behaviours that are causing the OCD symptoms. Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) is another effective treatment for OCD involving gradually exposing yourself to the things that trigger your OCD symptoms and then learning to resist the urge to complete your compulsions. 

If you have severe OCD symptoms, or if your symptoms don’t seem to respond to therapy alone, your therapist may recommend talking to a psychiatrist about medication. There are a variety of medicines that can be used, depending on your situation. Antidepressants are the most commonly prescribed medications for OCD. These drugs can help to reduce the symptoms of OCD by changing the levels of neurotransmitters in the brain.

 In 2008, a review of existing studies examined how OCD symptoms respond to different types of treatment. Some symptom subtypes, such as cleaning and contamination symptoms, may not respond well to antidepressants like SSRIs. According to the same study, ERP therapy may not be as effective for obsessive thoughts, but different CBT approaches, such as mindfulness-based CBT, may be more effective.

Talk to your psychiatrist about what approach works best for you, depending on your own unique set of symptoms. 

Each person with OCD will have a unique set of symptoms which can make diagnosis and treatment difficult. If you think you may have OCD, it's important to talk to a psychiatrist. There are many different treatment options available, and with the help of a professional, you can overcome OCD and live a normal life.