Home » Your Health » 14 Symptoms of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

14 Symptoms of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

By: Jeff Hayward on Sunday, April 15th

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is an anxiety disorder that can disrupt your life, and involves repetitive thoughts that won’t subside. It frequently starts in childhood and can last a person’s entire life – there’s an estimated prevalence of around 2-percent of the U.S. population that has the disorder.

OCD is not an easy mental disorder to understand, and therefore it can be difficult for medical professionals to diagnose. You may think you have it, but having a comforting routine or being a perfectionist is different than having constant intrusive thoughts that guide your actions. However, if you suspect you or a loved one is suffering from OCD (whether mild or severe), here are some symptoms to look for…

1. Hoarding

This is a behavioral trait of many people that have OCD, according to HelpGuide.org. It describes hoarding as, “collecting and keeping things with little or no use or value,” and while hoarding on its own doesn’t necessarily point to this particular mental disorder, having another symptom such as depression, compulsive shopping or tic disorders makes OCD more likely.

Hoarding in itself can be a health hazard as items pile up, due to becoming a tripping or fire risk, and can even pose significant challenges to emergency personnel who would need to access a person in a home.

12 Signs of a Nervous Breakdown to be Mindful of

A nervous breakdown, also commonly referred to as a mental or emotional breakdown, is used to describe “a situation in which someone cannot function normally because of...

Your Health
12 Telltale Traits of a Sociopath

Sociopathy is a mental health condition that is believed to affect approximately 1 to 4 percent of adults, and is more common in women than in men, although some researchers argue...

Your Health
Borderline Personality Disorder: 12 Common Symptoms and Causes

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a mental illness that affects about 1.6 percent of adults in the United States alone.

Your Health
6 Health Facts about Psychosomatic Disorders to Keep in Mind

Thoughts are very powerful things, so much so that they can cause our bodies to act in strange ways.

Your Health
6 Resolutions for 2017 Focused on Self Care

We often lose focus of ourselves in our busy lives, which can negatively impact our mental and physical health. There's always something that needs to be done for someone else.

Your Health
7 Simple Self-Care Tips to Boost Mood and Health

It seems we all take the time to care for our children, pets, homes and also our vehicles, but many of us are forgetting to take care of ourselves.

Your Health
6 Tips to Help you Through the Grieving Process

Grief can come in many forms—a breakup in a relationship, a dead pet, or the loss of a close family member.

Your Health
6 Ways Friendship Improves Our Health

Friendships are one of the most important facets of life. Friends can enhance and help us celebrate the best times—from weddings to graduations and new careers—as well as help...

Your Health

7 Cognitive Behavioral Techniques to Help Reframe Your Thinking

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is often used by therapists to help people overcome their negative thinking patterns and replace them with healthier, more positive thoughts.

Your Health
8 Everyday Realities for People Living with Anxiety Disorder

Anxiety is a widespread problem affecting approximately 40 million people in the United States alone.

Your Health
6 Tips to Help you Stress Less about Doubt

Stress, it seems to infiltrate every area of our life, and it's often not good for our health overall.

Your Health
Jumping to Conclusions: 6 Ways Perception Affects Our Lives

According to Wikipedia, perception is “the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the environment”.

Your Health
8 Distressing Facts on Emotional Trauma

Nobody is immune to the effects of psychological trauma. Whether you were involved in an abusive romantic relationship, an acrimonious divorce, witnessed a horrific event,...

Your Health
8 Facts on the Physical, Social, and Emotional Impacts of Hoarding

Hoarding is the compulsive collection of possessions accompanied by difficulty parting with them.

Your Health
Overcoming Negativity: 9 Steps to Turn Your Life Around

Many people whose lives seem to have spiralled out of control have no idea how to climb out of the pit of despair they find themselves in.

Your Health