Obsessions are unwanted thoughts, ideas or urges that are distressing. They may seem very strange or have to do with things you wouldn’t normally think about doing. You can’t control obsessions and they cause a lot of anxiety or ‘bad feelings’.
Compulsions are things you keep doing to lessen feelings of distress or to prevent something bad from happening. But, these behaviours or mental acts only work for a short time so you need to keep repeating them and they start to interfere with daily life. For example, if a child or youth has obsessions about getting very sick, they might stay away from sick people and ask their parents again and again if they will be okay. Compulsions take up a lot of time and affect the way you live.
Obsessive – compulsive and related disorders include Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), Body dysmorphic disorder, Hoarding disorder, Trichotillomania (hairpulling disorder), Excoriation (skin-picking) disorder, Substance/medication-induced obsessive-compulsive and related disorder, Obsessive-compulsive and related disorder due to another medical condition, and Other specified obsessive-compulsive and related disorder and Unspecified obsessive-compulsive and related disorder (e.g., body-focused repetitive behavior disorder, obsessional jealousy)