Is it true that there are several types of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)?

Good day Guest.

You are totally right. I mean, your doctor is totally right when he says that there is several types of OCD. Generally, doctors made four categories of OCD, but if you ask me I think that they should make even bigger  list. 

Some people just don't understand those categories, but there are those categories for you:

- intrusive thoughts,

- checking,

- mental contamination, and in the end

- hoarding.

Don't ask me to tell you what they are or to try to explain to you every of those categories, because in the beginning you should first tell me what type of OCD is in his case? 

 

Hi there Hannah. Thank you so much for clearing this for me. I was really confused because his doctor never told him that there are several types of OCD. When a doctor told this information to us, I was like - what? No, you are right, I still don't know what type of OCD is in his case. According to doctor, he needs to do several tests to determine what his type actually is. The only thing that I am glad is that he is OK, he is not showing any type of new problems. To be honest, I can't wait those tests to be over because I think that he will get a proper therapy than... Right?

Hi there Guest. 

I don't think that it is that hard to determine just by observing your dad what type of OCD he is having. I mean, it is very easy. I know that you are waiting for the tests and that is a smart move because that is the only way that you are going to be sure about this.

But generally, by observing your dad you can notice a lot of different things. For example, if he has a type of checking, he will always check something - his memory, water taps, are the doors locked, etc.

It can be very simple....

No, he is not like that. He never was like that. I know that my mom used to call him irresponsible. So, I don't believe that he has this type. But now, when you mentioned this, I noticed that for the last couple of years, three years to be exact he is avoiding everyone. He is not going out anymore. But he is not avoiding only people, he started to avoid objects, places...Like he is not comfortable at certain places, I don't know. It seems like he has some rituals but still I am not sure what this could be. And also now when I think about this I need to tell you that I can't put his behavior in any of those types... So you are right, I will definitely wait for the doctors to tell me what is his diagnose...

There is a huge list of, let's say, types of OCD based on what exactly is your problem. The four categories that Hannah wrote about are correct, however, sometimes you can have OCD which cannot be placed into any of these categories which doesn't in any case mean that you don't have OCD. 

Each of these 4 categories, intrusive thoughts, checking, mental contamination and hoarding have their own subcategories and if I remember well, they all have more than 10 sub categories so if you take that into consideration, OCD has way more categories and types than any other disorder that I know about.

Not really types, just categories. All of these OCD categories are alike but it all comes down to how is your OCD manifesting. Sometimes you cannot put your OCD in any of these categories so then you can't really classify your OCD and that doesn't matter, why? Because these categories are not important that much, maybe they are a bit important since regarding your category, you will know what to focus on when you try and treat it. But treating OCD is way too hard, there are bigger chances of you not overcoming it than the chances for actually winning that fight.

I don't know what to tell you. It would be right to tell you that there are several types of obsessive compulsive disorder, 4 of them, just like others have already wrote here, but on the other hand, all of these categories are really alike and they differ in such small things that they are not even relevant. That is why I wouldn't divide OCD in any categories and such, I would only say that there is one OCD category and that is OCD itself because as some already wrote above me, there are sometimes OCD types which do not fit in any of its categories.

I don't know, it is probably useful to know about this matter if you really have someone close to you who is suffering from OCD but otherwise it is really irrelevant. And the thing that you mentioned about the stadiums of OCD, it doesn't have any stadiums, OCD is simply OCD, it cannot get any worse or any better on its own, you can get better if you seek professional help but even that is questionable, only a small number of people are able to completely overcome OCD, I am guessing that they can overcome it because genetics didn't cause their OCD.

Sure there are, my father's best friend was suffering from OCD and he was diagnosed with one of these types, I tried to remember how it is called but I have no idea anymore. He kept coming to our house from time to time, he was always kind of fun, not the fun fun, but his behavior was kind of funny and we were just kids so to us, most of the unordinary things were funny to us. I am just saying this as an example that there are different types of OCD, although I don't know anything about them (sorry about that).