Obsessions are thoughts, images, and impulses that occur over and over again in the brain.
They cause the sufferer to feel out of control of their behavior. The sufferer performs compulsions to control their behavior and to try and make the obsession go away. Some of the most common obsessions are obsessions with germs and cleanliness that cause some people to bathe 14 time a day or compulsively wash their hands, obsessions with order that cause sufferers to organize their belongings because of a fear of losing them, and fear of causing harm to self or others that can result in obsessive checking of stoves etc. and obsessive worry about others well being. These obsessions take up time, OCD is categorized by compulsions that take up more than one hour a day, and cause the sufferer great distress. According to the research, most OCD sufferers are aware that they are being irrational and that their behavior is disruptive.