Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Symptoms, Complaints, Signs

The following symptoms and complaints may indicate obsessive-compulsive disorder:

  • Obsessive thoughts such as the danger of contamination (contamination thoughts: 50% of cases), contagion, poisoning, illness (pathological doubts: 42%; somatic obsessive fears: 33%), striving for symmetry (need for symmetry: 32%), order, etc.
  • Compulsive acts – repetitive patterns of action – are motivated by the promise of relief from tension and apprehension; compulsive acts can be thematically differentiated into:
    • Washing, cleaning, and grooming compulsions (washing rituals: 60%).
    • Control and order compulsions (control rituals: 60%).

(Percentages)

Key features

  • Unpleasant thoughts, ideas and impulses to action (intrusions) that impose themselves on the consciousness (obsessions),
  • Ritualized chains of thoughts and actions (compulsions), which are mostly performed with the aim of warding off or neutralizing the aversive intrusions.

ICD-10 research criteria of obsessive-compulsive disorder

Criteria Features
A
  • Either obsessive thoughts or obsessive actions (or both) on most days over a period ≥ 2 weeks
B Compulsive thoughts (ideas or imaginings) and compulsive actions show all of the following characteristics:

  1. They are considered to be the sufferer’s own thoughts/actions and not input from other people or influences.
  2. They are constantly repeated and perceived as unpleasant, and at least one compulsive thought or action is recognized as excessive and nonsensical.
  3. The sufferer attempts to resist (although resistance may be very low in the case of long-standing obsessive thoughts and compulsive acts). Resistance to at least one compulsive thought or action is currently unsuccessful.
  4. The performance of a compulsive thought or act is not in itself pleasurable (this should be distinguished from temporary relief of tension and anxiety).
C
  • Sufferers suffer from the obsessive thoughts and compulsive actions or are hindered in their social or individual performance, usually due to the special time involved.
D
  • Most common exclusion criterion: the disorder is not due to another mental disorder, such as schizophrenia and related disorders or affective disorders