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Patients may be embarrassed about acknowledging suspected obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). However, people who have deeply ingrained rituals that disrupt their lives are encouraged to consider seeking psychiatric treatment. The longer these patterns continue, the more difficult they are to treat successfully.

Before diagnosing OCD, a physician should perform a complete physical examination and compile a thorough medical history. The physician should ask about the nature of a patient’s obsessions and compulsions. Consultation with family and friends may help reveal behavior patterns that will lead to a more accurate diagnosis.

The physician may ask the patient the following questions:

• Does the patient have repeated unwanted thoughts that seem senseless?
  
  
• Does the patient do things repeatedly in a way that seems excessive?

There is no specific laboratory test to diagnose OCD. It is usually diagnosed in patients who have obsessive thoughts and/or who perform compulsive actions, and who recognize that these feelings and actions are unreasonable. In order for the diagnosis to apply, the obsessive-compulsive thoughts should appear for more than an hour each day and cause marked distress and interruption of a patient’s lifestyle.