Different Types of OCD

Different Types of OCD

https://www.restoredminds.com/5-Rules-For-Recovery

https://www.restoredminds.com/ocd-assessment

What are the different subtypes of OCD? 

OCD is composed of two primary components, obsessions and compulsions. And while the treatment process is virtually the same, regardless of the subtype, the experience of living with OCD is very different for every individual. 

So in this episode, I will be discussing the most common subtypes of OCD, which will help you be more aware of some of the different ways OCD can manifest in a person's life.

Enjoy.

TRANSCRIPT

(00:06):

Welcome to this episode where we are going to talk about the different forms or the different types of OCD that can develop in a person's life. And so, um, for those of you don't know, my name is Matt Codde and I'm a licensed clinical social worker and the founder of restored minds. And on this episode today, what I want to do is I want to outline just a kind of broad picture of some different types of OCD or subtypes of OCD that can form. Now, again, OCD is an anxiety disorder, right? And, you know, there's the four components of the obsession, the anxiety, the compulsive behaviors, and the relief that the person experiences from the compulsion's now in this, what I want to talk about are basically some of the different obsessions or the themes that people will obsess about, you know, and then kind of, you know, make an overarching kind of, um, idea of, of the different themes.

(00:56):

And then what, um, as we move forward in this series, I'm going to cover some of the different themes in depth, right. You know, really go and dive into them. And so, you know, to, to really kind of outline some broad forms of OCD, we have things like contamination. Now, again, just in this subtype of contamination, you're going to see people can obsess about all sorts of things. And that's why there's no way I'll be able to cover every type of OCD because people form new forms of OCD all the time, even, you know, this year, right. People developed, uh, you know, COVID-19 right. OCD around COVID-19. So that might probably wasn't a subtype before we knew about COVID-19, but this is what I mean, it can form about social media and all sorts of things, but when you have contamination, right. Um, you know, there can be things like, you know, fear of AIDS or, you know, bloodborne pathogens.

(01:43):

There can be, uh, you know, fears of other, you know, like sexually transmitted bodily fluids, right. There can be fears of radiation poisoning of, you know, of, um, you know, of getting a COVID-19 right. And so when we just look at CA contamination, there can be environmental pollutants, right. You know, so contamination can take this huge spectrum of all these different things that people can be fearful of just in this one subtype of OCD. And that's why, you know, while subtypes are important to understand, it's also important to understand that the loop works the same way, because one of the problems that I found with subtypes is people will think that their subtype is different or special for some reason. And the reality is it's not, it works, it's the same exact mechanism. Right. But so there's, those are examples of some contamination obsessions and, um, you know, then there's things like perfectionism obsessions, right.

(02:38):

Where people will get caught into the idea of like, well, this needs to be perfect, or I need to write this perfectly. There can't be a misspelling, or, you know, I need to say something perfectly. I need to hear this perfectly. So they'll have people repeat stuff again and again. Right. And the fear is usually like, what if this didn't happen perfectly? And usually underneath that, there's a fear of something happening as a result, right. Like if I didn't hear it perfectly, I might've missed like very crucial information or et cetera. Right. Then there's, um, you know, uh, driving, uh, you know, fears around driving with OCD where like, you know, people might be afraid. They might've hit someone when they were driving and they'd go back and check. Right. And that would be like what you might call hit and run OCD. Um, and then there's a whole basically spectrum of OCD called what used to be called pure O OCD.

(03:26):

Right. And in this, you know, pure OCD, it was thought previously that these obsessions only exists and there are no compulsive behaviors. Right. So it's purely obsessional OCD, but that doesn't exist. Right. And I want to be very clear about that because that's a myth because in every case of PIRO city, there's always, compulsion's, they're usually just mental compulsions or avoidant behaviors or reassurance. Right. So every time that we actually like dig a little bit, we always find compulsive behaviors. Um, but the pure OCD kind of goes into, you know, three main categories where you have intrusive violent thoughts, intrusive, you know, sexual thoughts, um, and then intrusive thoughts or, you know, doubts and concerns around, uh, religion. Right. And so the interest of Island thoughts could be things like fear of harming yourself, harming others, right. Um, you know, fears of, you know, accidentally hurting someone or, you know, like if you left a rug knocked over that someone could have tripped over, right.

(04:25):

I mean, all sorts of things can come up with just that idea of harmful obsessions. Right? When you go into the sexual obsessions, there will be people that will obsess and worry about their sexual orientation, you know, whether or not they are homosexual or heterosexual, right. Usually whatever they're worrying about, it's always the opposites. That's true. So people that are heterosexual worried about being homosexual and, and people that are homosexual, worried about being heterosexual, but then there's people that will worry about, um, you know, whatever they may or may not become a pedophile. Right. And so that's what they call pedophile a city. Um, and then even in that category, you can actually throw in relationship OCD because every time you're worrying about like, you know, sexual, intrusive images, and again, these things can happen. They can have sexual intrusive thoughts about family members or, you know, um, you know, DDS like Jesus, right?

(05:13):

So these sexual obsessions, um, will kind of they're they're, they're in sexual intrusive thoughts. And one of the ways that we determine them as part of OCD is because these thoughts are what we call ego-dystonic, right. They don't, they aren't a reflection of what the person really wants for their life. Um, but then you move into scrape your lossy and, you know, these thoughts are about like, what if God doesn't exist? Did I commit the unforgivable sin? You know, like the, the obsessions will kind of focus on a religious theme. And then in that same category can actually probably throw in relationship OCD because oftentimes with sexual obsessions, the person will question their relationship or love. And that's when they'll get obsessed about that. And, and I want you to kinda like, see the pattern here that, you know, these thoughts can just be endless and endless and, and they can jump from theme to theme the theme, the theme. And so, you know, there's other obsessions, like, you know, catastrophe obsessions, like what if someone breaks in my house? What if I left the stove on what if my house burns down? Right. Um, and

(06:14):

You know, while talking

(06:16):

About the different sub themes is, is important in the sense of helping people understand that it's a form of OCD, it can become counterproductive because what happens is people think that because they have maybe this type of OCD and this other type of OCT, they have like two things that they, you know, and then just becomes overwhelming because like, my OCD keeps bouncing from theme the theme when really the goal of treatment is to be able to handle any thought that comes up using the tool sets that you have. Right. And so, Oh, you know, it restored my Stockholm. We have a very specific, you know, kind of framework. We walk people through, um, with our taking back control program. But when, when it comes to, you know, um, realizing the different forms of OCD, it's important to understand that OCD can latch on to anything, right.

(07:04):

Like there used to be, you know, I mean, there's documented cases that are very, very ancient, you know, with health anxiety, right. Health OCD. Right. Um, and then there's religious obesity. And then, you know, more of the new age ones, right. Like things that are forming are like, COVID right. COVID obsessions. Um, and, and fears just around that one thing or social media, or, you know, there's impulsive obsessions. Like, you know, what, if I snap and yell something out, what if I snap and do something completely against what I would normally do. And it's important to understand that all these things exist. Right. But what we don't want is to have this information, be counterproductive, thinking that because you might have experienced multiple themes, that your OCD is more severe, worse, or harder to treat than others. It's not, it's really about understanding how this loop works.

(07:53):

All the different things that this loop can get, get latched on, and then really breaking again, the behaviors that you're doing that are reinforcing that, right. And that's why the more straightforward of a process you can have with the treatment, it doesn't matter what the OCD throws up next. You always have the same tool set that you would use. And that's why it's just so important to remember that with OCD and with any anxiety disorder, really the treatment model is, is always the same, right? It's, it's behavioral focused. Um, and, and, you know, we also have cognitive tools, right? We use cognitive behavioral therapy as well, but focusing on the behaviors that are reinforcing are really your key to success. So, you know, I, I hope this video is helpful. And again, I have some links right down in the notes, um, to help you on this journey, whether it's additional, um, you know, free trainings that we have over restored minds.com, some downloads and, um, and just other resources that you can, that you can use, um, you know, to really help you on this journey. So thank you so much for taking the time to be with us today. We always appreciate your support by liking and subscribing as well and sharing, and I wish you guys a wonderful week and I'll see you over on the next episode.