The information below includes a limited overview of the disorder based on the DSM-5 Diagnostic Criteria. Only a licensed therapist can provide a diagnosis.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
Characterized by presence of obsessions and/or compulsions.
Repeated unwanted urges and thoughts, often causing anxiety or distress.
Individual attempts to ignore or neutralize the urge with an action (compulsion).
Includes repetitive behaviors in response to obsession or rules (washing hands, counting, etc.)
Behaviors are intended to reduce anxiety.
Obsessions/compulsions are time-consuming or cause social and work-related issues.
Hoarding Disorder
Characterized by difficulty parting with possessions.
Difficulty discarding or parting with possessions, regardless of value.
Feeling a need to save the possessions.
Excessive inability to part with items results in the accumulation of these items in active living areas and limiting functions.
Hoarding causes significant impairment on social and work-related functioning.
Hair-Pulling Disorder (Trichotillomania)
Characterized by repeated pulling out of one’s own hair.
Hair loss resulting from repeatedly pulling out one’s own hair.
Includes attempts to stop removing one’s hair.
Hair-pulling causes social and work-related issues.
Skin-Picking (Excoriation Disorder)
Characterized by repeatedly picking one’s own skin.
Skin lesions resulting from picking one’s own skin.
Repeated attempts to stop skin picking.
Social and/or work-related issues have been caused by skin picking.
Citation:
American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425596
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