Symptoms and Signs
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Symptoms and Signs
This page pulls together the symptom-level picture of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder in a way that is easier to skim than the full pillar page.
Main diagnosis page
Return to the full Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder pillar page.
Clinical overview
- OCD usually feels to patients like getting trapped in a loop. Unwanted thoughts, urges, or images show up again and again, and the person starts doing rituals or mental acts to lower the distress, even when part of them knows the cycle does not really make sense.
- Core distinction: The most useful distinction is simple: obsessions are the intrusive experiences, and compulsions are what the person does to feel safer, more certain, or less distressed.
- Time and impairment: In practice, OCD starts to stand out when it is eating up time, driving avoidance, or making ordinary routines feel much harder than they should.
- Treatment pairing: The usual treatment conversation pairs ERP with medication. Most medication pathways start with an SSRI, with clomipramine as another classic option.