What OCD Actually Looks Like (Past Handwashing and Color Coding)
READ TIME : 5 min
OCD isn’t about being clean, organized, or quirky.
It’s about doubt. Constant, painful doubt.
Doubt about who you are
Doubt about your safety
Doubt about your values
It’s the never ending chase for certainty that doesn’t exist.
When People Think of OCD, They Picture Things Like:
Constant handwashing
Everything perfectly symmetrical
Color coded closets
And sure, that’s one way it can show up.
But for a lot of people?
It looks nothing like that.
And that’s why so many people miss it, even therapists sometimes.
Lesser Known Obsessions
Let’s talk about the lesser known obsessions, also called intrusive thoughts or images that OCD latches onto.
These thoughts are unwanted, distressing, and often completely opposite of someone’s character or values.
They can sound or look like:
“What if I said something racist at dinner?”
“Unwanted sexual images of people you care about”
“What if I never really loved my partner and I’m actually gay?”
“What if I offended God?”
“What if I hit someone with my car and didn’t notice?”
“What if all this anxiety makes me go crazy and I snap?”
“What if I never stop noticing my blinking or breathing?”
“What if I’m actually allergic to these raspberries?”
“What if I committed a crime and don’t remember?”
It’s not about wanting these things. It’s the opposite. People with OCD are terrified of them.
These thoughts don’t reflect who someone is. They reflect the disorder’s way of targeting what a person cares about most.
Lesser Known Compulsions
And then come the compulsions, the things people do to try to feel safe again. These can be physical, mental, or emotional actions meant to relieve anxiety or prevent something bad from happening.
They might look like:
Mentally replaying conversations to make sure you didn’t say something wrong
Throwing away items you think are contaminated
Re reading texts or emails to make sure you didn’t offend someone
Seeking reassurance (“Do you think I’m a bad person?”)
Redoing actions until they feel “just right” (like tying shoes or locking doors)
Taking videos or photos to “prove” you unplugged an appliance
Confessing intrusive thoughts or feeling like you have to share every detail to be honest
Praying, neutralizing, or repeating certain thoughts to cancel out another thought
Using Google, ChatGPT, or Reddit to make sure “it’s just anxiety”
These rituals and mental checks provide short term relief, but they reinforce the OCD cycle and make the fear stronger over time.
How OCD Hooks You
OCD can attach to anything, and it often targets the things you care about most. That might be your relationships, faith, safety, values, identity, or sense of control.
That’s why it can be so hard to stop doing compulsions. These fears are often wrapped around the most valued parts of people’s lives.
The problem isn’t the thought itself. It’s the attempt to get rid of it. It’s the cycle of trying to get 100 percent certainty that something bad won’t happen, which isn’t possible.
Why Certainty Feels So Important
Certainty feels like safety. But certainty is a feeling, not a fact.
Accepting uncertainty frankly sucks. It means admitting that something bad could one day happen to you or someone you love.
But that’s reality. And the rituals aren’t actually preventing it from happening either. They just keep you stuck in fear.
Why Awareness Matters
The reason I keep talking about OCD that doesn’t look like handwashing or color coding isn’t to nitpick labels. It’s because so many people are silently suffering with it and don’t even realize that’s what it is.
When the only version of OCD we see is about germs or perfectionism, we miss the people stuck in mental loops, checking, confessing, praying, and googling just to feel safe again.
Talking about these lesser known forms matters because:
• People start to realize they’re not alone or “crazy.”
• They’re more likely to find therapists who actually understand how OCD works.
• And they can get effective help before it becomes more entrenched and harder to treat.
Awareness isn’t just about education. It’s about understanding and getting people the right kind of help that actually works.
If This Sounds Familiar
You’re not broken. You’re human.
Your brain is just stuck in a fear loop that can be rewired.
Treatment that helps: ERP (Exposure and Response Prevention) and learning to build tolerance for uncertainty.
With the right kind of therapy, you can retrain your brain to stop feeding the OCD cycle and start living with more trust and freedom.
OCD Therapy in New York
I specialize in treating OCD, panic disorder, and anxiety related challenges through evidence based therapy that works.
I offer therapy for adults across New York State, both virtually and in person at my Syracuse office.
Schedule a consultation to see if we’re a good fit!
Follow me on Instagram @panicandanxiety for more real OCD education and recovery support.
Hi, I’m Michelle
I’ve been working in mental health since 2010 and struggling with anxiety for oh, idk, maybe my entire life.
And with my lived experience having anxiety, I know what works, what doesn’t, and what makes things feel worse. In here, you’re not alone, and I’ll work with you to shed the shame along with the anxiety. And by using evidence-based practices, I’ll help you recover, not just feel better.