As stated in the DSM-IV, obsessions are "recurrent and persistent thoughts that are experienced as intrusive and inappropriate and that cause marked anxiety or distress". Four main qualities that are described in this definition describe the term obsession: intrusive, recurrent, inappropriate, and unwanted. A thought that is intrusive is a thought that unexpectedly pops into the mind at any moment without any warnings and was never triggered by someone or something in the first place. Because it is "intrusive", it "intrudes" the mind at any given time. Recurrent describes a thought that never seems to go away and stay away. A recurrent thought will always come back no matter how hard you try to rid your mind from it. This characteristic can confuse an obsession with a phobia since they are both recurrent. Whereas a phobia is a fear of a certain situation or item like riding on a plane or mice, an obsession is mainly centered on a thought. Another quality of obsession is that it is unwanted. An obsession is not in any way wanted, not even the slightest bit. A person that has an obsession tries with everything they have to get rid of it. Unfortunately, the more a person tries to free themselves from an obsession, the more powerful it comes back. This quality is similar with an addiction. The difference between an addiction and an obsession is that a person with an addiction receives some type of pleasure whether it is with a drug, gambling, or anything else. There is no pleasure that comes from an obsession. Finally, the last characteristic of obsession is inappropriateness. This basically means that there is really no solid reason for a person to have a particular obsession, they just do. These four characteristics are what make up a severe obsession. When a person is so desperate to relieve themselves from an obsession, compulsions start coming into play.
There are two different types of compulsions, behavioral and mental. According to Osborn, "a compulsion is a repetitive act that is clearly excessive and is performed in order to lessen the discomfort of an obsession". Some examples of behavioral compulsions are washing checking, checking, and hoarding. Some people have to wash their hands over and over again throughout the day because they have an obsession with thinking that their hands are always dirty. Others cannot fall asleep or leave the house without constantly checking to see if the light switch or the stove is completely off. People will even live in complete cludder and hardly be able to move around in their own home because they save practically everything thinking that it would be useful one day. Mental compulsions try to releive a person from an obsession through ideas and certain rituals like repeating a prayer constantly or having a counter-image. A counter-image is an idea in which a person tries to imagine a scenerio to get rid of their obsession. Osborn describes her experience of imagining her skin being covered by a protective cream beause her obsession was the thought of needles being stabbed into her skin.
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is something not to be played around with. Some situations can really harm a person not only mentally but physically. For example, people who wash their hands constantly can really damage their hands. Their are several questionnares that Osborn mentions to help determine whether a person has OCD like the Padua Inventory, the Maudlsey Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory, and the Leyton Obsessional Inventory .
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