People with contamination OCD report a wide range of obsessions, including intrusive thoughts about being dirty or poisoned, coming into contact with viruses or other germs, contracting an illness or giving one to another person, or becoming morally contaminated. People with this type of OCD fear contamination for a variety
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Having repetitive, intrusive fears or doubts about sexual orientation is a common, and often misunderstood, form of OCD (it is sometimes referred to as H-OCD). For someone with this theme, obsessions about sexual orientation and the resulting distress often lead to an ever-increasing panicked effort to prove to themselves and
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Scrupulosity refers to a form of OCD in which questions related to morality or religious / spiritual matters become the focus of obsessive fears and compulsive and ritualistic behaviors. Some individuals with OCD find that the ambiguity of religious laws or secular morality generates overwhelming anxiety. Whereas a person without
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Most people have some fear of illness; health-related anxiety, in fact, motivates people to engage in behaviors — such as exercise, eating lower fat foods, and having regular visits with doctors and dentists — that prolong and improve people’s lives. When this fear becomes part of an OCD obsession, however,
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Most people have occasional violent or sexual ideas that flash through their minds, but they tend to have little trouble dismissing them. For people with OCD, however, these thoughts or images may trigger panic and great distress. While changing her son’s diaper, for example, a new mother might suddenly realize
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