Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsAt-Home OCD TestingProfessional ScreeningsDiagnostic Criteria for OCDDifferential Diagnosis
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
At-Home OCD Testing
Professional Screenings
Diagnostic Criteria for OCD
Differential Diagnosis
No blood test or imaging study can diagnoseobsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). While there are online assessments and checklists for OCD symptoms, you should not use these tools to try to diagnose yourself. Only a healthcare provider (like your primary care provider) or a mental health professional can determine if you have OCD.
Verywell / Zoe Hansen
Different Types of OCD: Symptoms and Examples
You should not try to self-diagnose OCD. Only a qualified and licensed mental health professional can diagnose you with OCD. Online self-assessments for OCD can offer some insight into your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, but they are not meant to diagnose you with OCD or any other mental health condition.
If you’re looking at OCD assessments online, make sure you understand how they were designed and how they are meant to be used. For example, some assessments are meant for adults, while others are only for kids.
While you can see many of these assessments online, they’re not meant to be used to diagnose yourself with OCD.
If you have an appointment scheduled to be assessed for OCD, you can look through the documents before you see your provider. The assessments may help you organize your thoughts and describe what you’re feeling during your appointment.
OCD vs. OCPD: What Are the Differences?
A provider will inquire as to why you think you have OCD. They can use a structured interview (a set of prepared, closed-ended questions requiring a yes/no answer) or a freeform approach (a guided conversation with open-ended questions) to talk with you about your feelings and behaviors and see if they match up with the criteria for diagnosing OCD or another condition.
The Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale Self-Report and the Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory are the gold standard assessments for diagnosing OCD. Providers can also use other screening tools, like the Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule for DSM-5 and the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-5, to help them diagnose OCD.
Some questions you can expect to be asked during an OCD assessment include:
Your appointment length will depend on yoursymptoms, general health, and how your provider chooses to screen you. Plan to spend around 60 to 90 minutes in their office.
Physical Exams and TestsThere is no specific blood test to check for OCD, but a provider may want to do lab tests to rule out an underlying medical condition that could be causing your symptoms.For example, your provider may do blood tests to measure your thyroid function or see if you have vitamin deficiencies. Certain health conditions can cause symptoms that look like OCD but need to be treated differently.Once a medical explanation for your symptoms is ruled out, your provider may want you to see a mental health care provider to be assessed for OCD. A mental health care provider with an MD (psychiatrist) can also order medical tests. They may do so to help confirm a diagnosis or plan treatment.
Physical Exams and Tests
There is no specific blood test to check for OCD, but a provider may want to do lab tests to rule out an underlying medical condition that could be causing your symptoms.For example, your provider may do blood tests to measure your thyroid function or see if you have vitamin deficiencies. Certain health conditions can cause symptoms that look like OCD but need to be treated differently.Once a medical explanation for your symptoms is ruled out, your provider may want you to see a mental health care provider to be assessed for OCD. A mental health care provider with an MD (psychiatrist) can also order medical tests. They may do so to help confirm a diagnosis or plan treatment.
There is no specific blood test to check for OCD, but a provider may want to do lab tests to rule out an underlying medical condition that could be causing your symptoms.
For example, your provider may do blood tests to measure your thyroid function or see if you have vitamin deficiencies. Certain health conditions can cause symptoms that look like OCD but need to be treated differently.
Once a medical explanation for your symptoms is ruled out, your provider may want you to see a mental health care provider to be assessed for OCD. A mental health care provider with an MD (psychiatrist) can also order medical tests. They may do so to help confirm a diagnosis or plan treatment.
What Is a CBC Blood Test For?
To meet the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition(DSM-5) diagnostic criteria for OCD, a person must:
The obsessions and compulsions must cause a person significant distress and impairment in their ability to function in daily life (such as in school, at work, or in theirrelationships).
What Does OCD Look Like?
Consider a Differential Diagnosis
Providers also need to rule out other mental health or developmental disorders that could be causing your symptoms before diagnosing you with OCD. Conditions that can share symptoms with OCD include:
These disorders have their own diagnostic criteria in the DSM-5. If your provider thinks one of the conditions could be a better explanation for your symptoms than OCD, they will talk to you about the next steps in working toward a diagnosis.
How Is OCD Treated?
Summary
There is no single test for OCD, but providers have tools like the criteria in the DSM-5 and specific assessments that help them screen people for the condition.
You should not try to self-diagnose yourself with OCD. If you’re having symptoms that are troubling you, reach out to a healthcare provider. They may want to do blood tests or other medical tests to rule out another cause for your symptoms before referring you to a mental health provider to talk about an OCD diagnosis.
How Can You Find OCD Support Groups?
8 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Rapp AM, Bergman RL, Piacentini J, McGuire JF.Evidence-based assessment of obsessive-compulsive disorder.J Cent Nerv Syst Dis. 2016;8:13-29. doi:10.4137/JCNSD.S38359National Library of Medicine: MedlinePlus.Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) test.University of Pennsylvania.Center for the treatment of anxiety.American Psychiatric Association.What is obsessive-compulsive disorder?.Nazeer A, Latif F, Mondal A, Azeem MW, Greydanus DE.Obsessive-compulsive disorder in children and adolescents: epidemiology, diagnosis and management.Transl Pediatr. 2020;9(Suppl 1):S76-S93. doi:10.21037/tp.2019.10.02Fontenelle LF.Clinical features and differential diagnosis of obsessive-compulsive disorder.Psychiatric Annals. 2022;52(4):133-137. doi:10.3928/00485713-20220310-01Frileux S, Millet B, Fossati P.Late-onset OCD as a potential harbinger of dementia With Lewy bodies: a report of two cases.Front Psychiatry. 2020;11:554. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00554International OCD Foundation.Signs & symptoms of PANDAS/PANS.
8 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Rapp AM, Bergman RL, Piacentini J, McGuire JF.Evidence-based assessment of obsessive-compulsive disorder.J Cent Nerv Syst Dis. 2016;8:13-29. doi:10.4137/JCNSD.S38359National Library of Medicine: MedlinePlus.Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) test.University of Pennsylvania.Center for the treatment of anxiety.American Psychiatric Association.What is obsessive-compulsive disorder?.Nazeer A, Latif F, Mondal A, Azeem MW, Greydanus DE.Obsessive-compulsive disorder in children and adolescents: epidemiology, diagnosis and management.Transl Pediatr. 2020;9(Suppl 1):S76-S93. doi:10.21037/tp.2019.10.02Fontenelle LF.Clinical features and differential diagnosis of obsessive-compulsive disorder.Psychiatric Annals. 2022;52(4):133-137. doi:10.3928/00485713-20220310-01Frileux S, Millet B, Fossati P.Late-onset OCD as a potential harbinger of dementia With Lewy bodies: a report of two cases.Front Psychiatry. 2020;11:554. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00554International OCD Foundation.Signs & symptoms of PANDAS/PANS.
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Rapp AM, Bergman RL, Piacentini J, McGuire JF.Evidence-based assessment of obsessive-compulsive disorder.J Cent Nerv Syst Dis. 2016;8:13-29. doi:10.4137/JCNSD.S38359National Library of Medicine: MedlinePlus.Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) test.University of Pennsylvania.Center for the treatment of anxiety.American Psychiatric Association.What is obsessive-compulsive disorder?.Nazeer A, Latif F, Mondal A, Azeem MW, Greydanus DE.Obsessive-compulsive disorder in children and adolescents: epidemiology, diagnosis and management.Transl Pediatr. 2020;9(Suppl 1):S76-S93. doi:10.21037/tp.2019.10.02Fontenelle LF.Clinical features and differential diagnosis of obsessive-compulsive disorder.Psychiatric Annals. 2022;52(4):133-137. doi:10.3928/00485713-20220310-01Frileux S, Millet B, Fossati P.Late-onset OCD as a potential harbinger of dementia With Lewy bodies: a report of two cases.Front Psychiatry. 2020;11:554. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00554International OCD Foundation.Signs & symptoms of PANDAS/PANS.
Rapp AM, Bergman RL, Piacentini J, McGuire JF.Evidence-based assessment of obsessive-compulsive disorder.J Cent Nerv Syst Dis. 2016;8:13-29. doi:10.4137/JCNSD.S38359
National Library of Medicine: MedlinePlus.Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) test.
University of Pennsylvania.Center for the treatment of anxiety.
American Psychiatric Association.What is obsessive-compulsive disorder?.
Nazeer A, Latif F, Mondal A, Azeem MW, Greydanus DE.Obsessive-compulsive disorder in children and adolescents: epidemiology, diagnosis and management.Transl Pediatr. 2020;9(Suppl 1):S76-S93. doi:10.21037/tp.2019.10.02
Fontenelle LF.Clinical features and differential diagnosis of obsessive-compulsive disorder.Psychiatric Annals. 2022;52(4):133-137. doi:10.3928/00485713-20220310-01
Frileux S, Millet B, Fossati P.Late-onset OCD as a potential harbinger of dementia With Lewy bodies: a report of two cases.Front Psychiatry. 2020;11:554. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00554
International OCD Foundation.Signs & symptoms of PANDAS/PANS.
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