OCD Subtypes Test: Which Type of OCD Do I Have?
Answer 18 quick questions to see which OCD themes fit your experience, from contamination and checking to harm, relationship doubt, Pure O and scrupulosity. Then go deeper with the matching test.
Take a test for a specific OCD subtype
False Memory OCD Test
A private self-assessment for false memory OCD and memory distrust patterns, including repeated mental review, reassurance seeking, and uncertainty about past events.
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Contamination OCD Test
A private self-assessment for contamination OCD patterns, including fear of germs, washing rituals, avoidance, and repeated checking for contamination.
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Harm OCD Test
A private self-assessment for harm OCD patterns, including unwanted intrusive thoughts, fear of losing control, reassurance seeking, avoidance, and repeated checking.
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Checking OCD Test
A private self-assessment for checking OCD patterns, including repeated checking, doubt, reassurance seeking, rereading, reviewing, and difficulty feeling certain.
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Relationship OCD Test
A private self-assessment for relationship OCD patterns, including repeated doubt, reassurance seeking, checking feelings, comparing, avoidance, and difficulty feeling certain.
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Somatic OCD Test
A private self-assessment for somatic OCD patterns, including repeated attention to body sensations, breathing, swallowing, blinking, heartbeat, discomfort, and reassurance seeking.
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Symmetry OCD Test
A private self-assessment for symmetry OCD patterns, including urges to arrange, align, even up, repeat, or fix things until they feel balanced or exact.
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Just Right OCD Test
A private self-assessment for just right OCD patterns, including repeating, redoing, checking, adjusting, or restarting until something feels correct or complete.
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Intrusive Thoughts Test
A private self-assessment for intrusive thought patterns, including unwanted thoughts, distress, mental review, reassurance seeking, avoidance, and difficulty letting thoughts pass.
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Real Event OCD Test
A private self-assessment for real event OCD patterns, including repeated guilt, reviewing past events, confession urges, reassurance seeking, and difficulty accepting uncertainty.
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OCD Screening Test (OCI-4)
A brief screening tool to help identify potential OCD symptoms. Based on the Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory (OCI-4), a clinically validated 4-item scale.
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Y-BOCS Self-Report
Measure OCD severity across obsessions and compulsions using the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale self-report version.
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Pure O OCD Test
A self-assessment for primarily obsessional OCD (Pure O) — intrusive thoughts without visible compulsions.
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Skin Picking Disorder Test
A free 10-question dermatillomania (skin picking disorder) screener: urges, time, damage, distress and control, plus two questions that flag an OCD-style pattern.
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Scrupulosity OCD Test
Assess symptoms of scrupulosity OCD — excessive religious or moral doubt, fear of sin, and perfectionism in moral behavior.
Take Assessment →How the OCD subtypes test works
OCD is one condition, but it wears many costumes. The OCD subtypes test above asks two questions about each of nine common themes and shows you where your answers cluster. It is a router, not a verdict: it points you to the more detailed test for the themes that fit, and it is built to be honest about overlap, because most people score on more than one.
Each theme gets a score from 0 to 8. Six or more is a strong match, three to five is moderate, and anything under three is low. Your overall score (0 to 72) is a rough measure of how much OCD-style thinking is going on right now. Nothing here is a diagnosis. Only a clinician can give you that, ideally one who treats OCD regularly.
The 9 OCD subtypes this test screens for
Researchers who have analysed thousands of symptom checklists keep finding the same handful of clusters: contamination and washing, responsibility and checking, unacceptable or taboo thoughts, and symmetry and ordering, with hoarding now treated as a separate condition (Bloch et al., 2008; Abramowitz et al., 2010). The everyday “subtypes” people search for are mostly flavours of those clusters. Here is what each one looks like from the inside.
- Contamination OCD Fear of germs, chemicals, illness or feeling “dirty” in a way that will not wash off, answered with washing, cleaning, avoiding or asking others to keep things clean. Contamination OCD test
- Checking OCD Doubt about whether the door is locked, the stove is off or the email was right, plus a sense that if something goes wrong it will be your fault. Checking gives a moment of relief, then the doubt returns. Checking OCD test
- Harm OCD Unwanted images or urges of hurting yourself or someone you love. People with harm OCD are horrified by the thoughts, which is exactly why the thoughts stick. Avoiding knives, driving or being alone with children is common. Harm OCD test
- Relationship OCD (ROCD) Relentless questioning of whether you really love your partner, whether they are attractive enough, or whether you would be happier with someone else, often in a relationship that is going fine. Relationship OCD test
- Pure O (intrusive thoughts with mental rituals) Disturbing sexual, violent, blasphemous or existential thoughts, with compulsions that happen inside your head: reviewing, neutralising, praying, arguing back, checking how you feel. “Pure O” is a nickname, not a diagnosis; the compulsions are there, just invisible. Pure O OCD test
- Scrupulosity (moral and religious OCD) Fear of having sinned, lied, cheated or been a bad person, with confessing, reassurance seeking and repeating prayers or apologies until they feel “clean”. Scrupulosity OCD test
- Symmetry, ordering and “just right” OCD A physical sense that something is uneven, incomplete or wrong until it is arranged, repeated or counted into place. Less about a feared outcome, more about a feeling that will not switch off. Just Right OCD test and Symmetry OCD test
- Somatic (sensorimotor) OCD Hyper-awareness of breathing, blinking, swallowing or heartbeat, and the fear that you will never stop noticing it. Trying not to notice is the compulsion. Somatic OCD test
- Real event and false memory OCD Replaying something that happened, or might have happened, to work out whether you did something wrong, with no evidence either way and a growing distrust of your own memory. False memory OCD test and Real event OCD test
Two related conditions sit next to OCD rather than inside it. Skin picking (dermatillomania) and hair pulling are body-focused repetitive behaviours; they share the urge-relief loop but usually lack the feared thought. If your picking feels driven by “not right” sensations or intrusive thoughts, the skin picking test flags that too.
Can you have more than one OCD subtype?
Yes, and most people do. Themes overlap, and they migrate: contamination fears in your twenties can become harm thoughts after a baby arrives, or relationship doubt once you are in a relationship worth losing. The International OCD Foundation describes OCD by its mechanism (obsession, anxiety, compulsion, short relief, stronger obsession) rather than by its content, because the content changes and the mechanism does not.
That is the useful part of this test. If three themes light up, you do not have three disorders. You have one pattern showing up in three places, and the same treatment works on all of them.
Why the subtype matters less than the cycle
Every subtype runs on the same loop: an intrusive thought or sensation, a spike of anxiety or “wrongness”, a compulsion (visible or mental) that brings relief, and a brain that learns the compulsion was necessary. The evidence-based treatments, exposure and response prevention (ERP) and cognitive behavioural therapy for OCD, target the loop, not the topic (NICE guideline CG31). Knowing your themes helps you and a therapist pick the right exposures. It does not change the plan.
What to do with your result
- Take the detailed test for your strongest one or two themes. Each has six focused questions and its own scoring.
- Get a baseline of severity with the Y-BOCS self-report, the scale clinicians use to measure OCD over time.
- Read the guide for your theme: Pure O, scrupulosity, ROCD, or the overview of OCD subtypes and how the cycle works.
- Talk to someone who treats OCD. Bring your scores; they are a good starting point for a first appointment.
Frequently asked questions
Is this OCD subtypes test accurate?
It is a screening tool built from the symptom dimensions that appear consistently in research, not a validated diagnostic instrument. It is accurate enough to tell you which detailed test to take next and to show where your answers cluster. A clinician’s assessment is the only way to know whether you meet criteria for OCD.
What type of OCD do I have if nothing scored high?
Possibly none, or possibly a theme this test does not cover, such as existential, sexual orientation, hoarding or perfectionism-driven OCD. If intrusive thoughts and repetitive behaviours are still bothering you, the OCI-4 screening test looks at OCD in general rather than by theme.
Can my OCD subtype change over time?
Yes. Content follows what you value most at the time. A change of theme is common and does not mean treatment failed; the skills you learned on one theme transfer to the next.
Do I need a different treatment for each subtype?
No. ERP and CBT for OCD are the first-line treatments across themes. The exposures differ (touching a doorknob versus writing out a feared thought), but the method and the goal, tolerating uncertainty without the compulsion, are the same.
Sources: Bloch MH et al. Meta-analysis of the symptom structure of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Am J Psychiatry. 2008;165(12):1532–1542. · Abramowitz JS et al. Assessment of obsessive-compulsive symptom dimensions: the Dimensional Obsessive-Compulsive Scale. Psychol Assess. 2010;22(1):180–198. · American Psychiatric Association. DSM-5-TR. 2022. · NICE. Obsessive-compulsive disorder and body dysmorphic disorder: treatment (CG31). · International OCD Foundation, “What is OCD?”.
This page is for educational purposes and is not a substitute for professional diagnosis or treatment. If you’re in crisis, contact your local emergency services or a crisis line.