How to Diagnose Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is officially classified as an anxiety disorder. One of the most severe and debilitating of this class of mental condition, OCD has the potential to severely diminish a person's quality of life. While OCD is highly treatable, many people with the condition suffer in silence due to feelings of embarrassment over their symptoms. Knowing how to diagnose obsessive-compulsive disorder can be an important first step toward convincing someone to get help.

Things You'll Need

• Psychiatrist or psychologist

Instructions

Diagnose Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

1. Make an appointment with a psychologist or psychiatrist. Only a qualified mental health professional can adequately evaluate someone's symptoms to definitively diagnose OCD.

2. Recognize true obsessive thoughts. Everyone has the potential to obsess over something once in a while. However, these thoughts become clinically neurotic when they are repetitive over a long period of time, are unwanted and produce a lot of anxiety in the person who is thinking them.

3. Look for physical behaviors that are performed for the purpose of easing the anxiety produced by the obsessions. For example, a person with OCD may have the recurring thought of disaster befalling a loved one. That person may feel he can protect his loved one by touching the refrigerator door four times every time this thought comes up. This behavior is a compulsion and is a hallmark symptom of OCD.

4. Take a look at the length of time spent on compulsions each day. If an hour or more of a person's time is spent performing compulsions on any given day, this is a strong indicator of OCD.

5. Find out whether the person realizes that her obsessions and compulsions are irrational. Almost all people who suffer from OCD knows these things are a product of their own mind and have no bearing on reality. However, they do not feel able to stop the obsessions and compulsions on their own.

Tips & Warnings

• A psychiatrist's practice is normally limited to prescribing medication for mental disorders. While a psychiatrist can accurately diagnose OCD, he probably won't offer any sort of cognitive therapy.

• A psychologist can diagnose OCD but cannot prescribe medication. A psychologist's practice is limited to behavioral and cognitive therapy.

• Severe OCD can interfere with a person's school, work and home life. The degree of impact is directly proportional to the amount of time spent on compulsions and the person's desire to hide the compulsions. When someone has moderate to severe OCD, getting help quickly is important to restore normalcy and self-sufficiency to his life.