The symptoms usually develop between childhood and adolescence, rarely in middle age.

Obsessive thoughts are recurrent, intrusive unwanted thoughts that cause anxiety and distress.

• Fear of dirt/disease
• Fear of uncertainty
• Requires things to be in order and perfect

In an attempt to ease this anxiety, you are driven to perform certain actions that are unusually repetitive and time consuming. But it will not alleviate the distress completely. This is called compulsion. So you may find yourself doing,

• Handwash multiple times a day
• Multiple baths
• everything in a particular order
• These are more pronounced when rhe person is under stress