Pure O OCD is a tricky concept to understand. It wasn’t until my therapist pointed it out that I realized I suffer from it. I have my more obvious compulsions that include ritual checking or touching, but I didn’t understand that I have mental compulsions as well. I thought compulsions were only the visible things I did, such as checking a stove or touching an item until it “feels right”.
Now I understand that Pure O is not actually a type of OCD where you only have obsessions; instead, it’s when you have obsessions and mental rituals.
What is Pure O?
Pure O stands for “purely obsessional,” which is a bit misleading. This type of OCD is when someone has intrusive thoughts without external, visible compulsions. But this is misleading because those with Pure O still DO have mental compulsions.
Mental compulsions are basically doing a compulsion in your mind just like you would an external compulsion. Some examples include:
- Saying a prayer repeatedly until it feels right
- Making mental lists
- Constantly reviewing conversations or events
- Trying to “erase” or “undo” something in your mind
- Using songs or playlists as part of reassurance seeking
What are some more examples of Pure O?
I’ll share some of mine here to give a better illustration:
Using content to reassurance seek
When an intrusive thought pops into my head, I will listen to music on shuffle and tell myself “whatever the next song describes what’s going to happen.” And then do it over and over and over again.
I’ve done this with other content in my mind, such as Instagram posts as I scrolled or TikToks. And even tarot card readings. No one can see it happening, but it was a constant loop in my mind.
Constantly worrying about causing harm to others
This is a common one I experience: this includes constantly worrying about harming others in some way. As a compulsion I would walk through the steps I took from the stove (I couldn’t possibly have left it on) in order to reassure myself. And I would do that over and over again. Sometimes this could also lead to a checking compulsion, but not always.
Constantly reassuring yourself
Have you ever found yourself spending hours throughout the day thinking through a bothering event and having a back and forth reassurance-fest in your head? Sometimes this sounds like a debate or maybe more like a court case. You present the evidence to yourself of why you aren’t a bad person because you spoke up in a meeting. You re-do conversations you had previously and plan how you will respond. But this is all done to reassure yourself vs. actually solve the conflict.
Of course, some of these are things everyone does once in a while; the difference with OCD is that it’s a constant loop. You never get to a satisfactory conclusion and are always seeking more reassurance.
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