What Are the 7 Types of OCD?
By Justin La Rose, RP, M.Psy · Registered Psychotherapist (CRPO) · Clinical Director, The OCD Clinic
Evidence last reviewed: October 2026
The 7 types of OCD people usually mean are contamination, checking, symmetry and “just right,” taboo intrusive thoughts, scrupulosity, relationship OCD, and hoarding-type difficulty discarding. There’s no single official list, though, and here’s what most of those lists miss: OCD is one disorder, not seven. The themes are just the different costumes the same mechanism wears.
The short answer
- Mental and behavioural: Most patients in a large study by Foa et al. (1995) had both mental and behavioural compulsions, and most were unsure whether their symptoms were excessive.
- Some themes get missed: Clinicians misidentified OCD 38.9% of the time overall, 77.0% for sexual-orientation obsessions and 31.5% for aggressive obsessions, in a study by Glazier et al. (2013).
- One treatment: Across 37 randomized trials, CBT including ERP produced large effects compared with waitlist and placebo, according to a meta-analysis by Öst et al. (2015).
- No official list: The seven are common themes that clinicians and writers use, not formal subtypes in a diagnostic manual.
What does each type look like?
| Type | The fear | Common rituals |
|---|---|---|
| Contamination | Germs, illness, feeling dirty | Washing, cleaning, avoiding |
| Checking | Causing harm through a mistake | Checking locks, stoves, your own memory |
| Symmetry and just right | Things feeling off or incomplete | Arranging, counting, redoing |
| Taboo intrusive thoughts | Violent, sexual or blasphemous thoughts | Avoiding, reviewing, seeking reassurance |
| Scrupulosity | Being sinful, immoral or dishonest | Confessing, praying, mental review |
| Relationship OCD | Doubt about a partner or the relationship | Comparing, testing feelings, asking |
| Hoarding-type | Losing something you might need | Keeping, difficulty discarding |
Other themes don’t make most lists, like sexual orientation OCD, existential OCD and health anxiety OCD. And a need for order isn’t always OCD: OCD vs OCPD explains the difference.
Why doesn’t the type change the treatment?
Because the mechanism is always the same: an intrusive thought or doubt spikes anxiety, a compulsion brings brief relief, and the loop tightens. A lot of OCD is invisible, with the compulsions happening in your head, which is why it’s so often mislabelled as just anxiety. And the theme that scares you most often matters least clinically, because OCD goes after what you care about. You don’t need to label your type correctly to get better. Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) treats the loop, whatever the costume. Every theme has its own guide on our OCD subtypes pages.
Frequently asked questions
Can you have more than one type of OCD?
Yes. Many people don’t fit neatly into one box. Themes overlap and shift over the years, a bit like whack-a-mole: when one goes quiet, another can take its place.
Is Pure O a type of OCD?
Pure O is a popular name, not a separate type. It usually describes OCD where the compulsions happen in your head, like reviewing, neutralising or mentally checking. Most people in Foa’s 1995 study had both mental and behavioural compulsions.
Is hoarding a type of OCD?
It’s now usually considered its own related condition, hoarding disorder. Difficulty discarding can still show up inside OCD, which is why many lists of OCD types include it.
What should you read next?
If you're experiencing these symptoms, evidence-based treatment can help. We treat OCD, and only OCD, with Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP).
Book a Free ConsultationHow we researched this page
This page draws on a large symptom study (Foa et al., 1995), a study of how often clinicians misidentify OCD themes (Glazier et al., 2013) and a meta-analysis of 37 CBT and ERP trials (Öst et al., 2015), alongside what I see in my own practice. The seven-type list is a convention, not a research finding, and most trials mix themes rather than testing each one, so the theme descriptions here are clinical observation.
A note on my perspective
I run a private clinic that treats OCD with ERP, and I'm paid when people book with us. Read what I write with that in mind. Public and lower-cost routes exist too, and the Ontario OCD treatment guide lays them out next to ours.
About the author
Justin La Rose, RP, M.Psy is a Registered Psychotherapist with the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO) and Clinical Director of The OCD Clinic in Toronto. He has worked in mental health for more than 25 years and treats OCD with Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP). You can confirm his registration on the CRPO public register.
Client stories on this site are composites, with names and identifying details changed. How we write client stories
How to cite this page
La Rose, J. (2026). What Are the 7 Types of OCD?. The OCD Clinic. https://theocdclinic.ca/ocd-faq/what-are-the-7-types-of-ocd