Symptoms of OCD (obsessions)

• Recurrent and persistent thoughts, impulses or images that are experienced as intrusive and that cause marked anxiety or distress.
• The thoughts, impulses, or images are not simply excessive worries about real-life problems.
• The person attempts to ignore or suppress such thoughts, impulses, or images, or to neutralize them with some other thought or action.
• The person recognizes the obsessive thoughts, impulses, or images are a product of his or her own mind, and are not based in reality.

Symptoms of OCD (compulsions)

• Repetitive behaviors or mental acts that the person feels driven to perform in response to an obsession, or according to some set of rules that must be applied rigidly.
• The behaviors or mental acts are aimed at preventing or reducing distress or preventing some dreaded event or situation; however, these behaviors or mental acts are not actually connected to the issue, or they are excessive.

Additionally, at some point the individual must realize his/her obsessions or compulsions are unreasonable or excessive. Moreover, the obsessions or compulsions must be time-consuming (taking up more than one hour per day), cause distress, or cause impairment in social, occupational, or educational functioning. Depending on the person, OCD may be accompanied with feelings of depression and / or anxiety. It is advisable some form of OCD treatment is used to help overcome these symptoms.

These are only the general symptoms of OCD. For a more in depth look at OCD see specific signs of obsessions and compulsions