
Pure OCD: when pure isn't necessarily better
Updated: Oct 4, 2021

It is widely known that OCD consists of obsessions and compulsions. In more cases than not, obsessions are mental and
covert (hidden) such as thoughts about harming others, health, contamination, relationships, sexuality or suffering. Whereas the compulsions are overt (physical, obvious, visible) such as repeating, checking, avoiding, cleaning, counting or praying.
Pure O describes OCD where the compulsions aren’t visible. For this reason we see Pure O not so much as a sub-type, but as a symptom set, since people with Pure O can have the same obsessions as people with physical compulsions. Pure O compulsions might involve:
Going over conversations mentally
Trying to recall events just as they happened
Trying to recall a memory perfectly
Trying to order events according to a timeline
Mentally counting
Mentally neutralising (replacing a negative thought with a positive thought)
Re-ordering thoughts
Re-ordering words before speaking
Mentally avoiding
Mentally replacing thoughts
Obsessively thinking (ruminating)
Problem solving
Analysing
Evaluating
Comparing
There are some subtype