The general information section is primarily to make the works included searchable outside of this list. This includes title, creator, release, and media.

Title – The title of the work. May also include the title of an individual episode if applicable.

Creator – The author or other type of primary creator. May have multiple if it was co-created.

Release – The date it was first aired, published, or otherwise released to the public.

Media – Type of media the work is within, such as a book, television show, movie, song, etc.

Context of the text is information gathered from secondary sources that provides important context that can be used to better understand the work being examined. This includes canonical, known OCD in creator, and reception.

Canonical – Whether the presence of OCD within the narrative has been confirmed to be intentional by the creator. For example, a novel where the author did an interview talking about how the character’s OCD was based on a relative’s experience would be canonical, because the OCD has been confirmed to be present and intentional on the part of the author. A song that resonates heavily with people who have OCD but has never been confirmed to be intentionally written to portray OCD would not be canonical.

Known OCD in Creator – This category is referring to if the main creator has talked publicly about having OCD. This does not necessarily mean that the creator doesn’t have OCD if it’s marked “Unknown”. This only tells us that they have not talked publicly about it, so the category should be approached with that in mind.

Reception – Reception is specifically referring to reception by the OCD community. There are a few movies that were well-received by the general public, but have a mixed reception among people with OCD, and so they are within the “mixed reception” category. This was dependent on if I could find a selection of people with OCD that discussed their opinions on the media. If there was not enough of a selection to be sure either way, then the category “Limited Reception” has been used. 

Specifics of the text include information from within the work itself that’s relevant to understanding what demographics are being represented. 

Genre – Genre, here, specifically refers to the overarching genre of fiction or nonfiction, with a third category for “Unknown/Mixed” if the distinction is not clear.

Race/Ethnicity – This identifies the race/ethnicity of the person with OCD in the work identified. If it’s nonfiction, this will be based on the race/ethnicity of the author. In fiction, it will refer to the fictional character with OCD.

Gender – This category is to identify the gender of the person with OCD within the media. If this is nonfiction, this may just be the gender identity of the creator. But if it’s fiction, this refers specifically to the fictional character with OCD.

Occupation – Occupation, here, refers to generalized categories of occupations. “Law enforcement” refers to anyone in the police force, as well as detectives and other occupations within the law enforcement field. “Health” primarily includes doctors, but can also include psychologists. “Student” is anyone who is a full-time student in college or K-12 education. “Creative” includes authors, artists, singers, and other creative forms of expression. These are in reference to the primary occupation of the character with OCD or, in the case of nonfiction, the occupation of the main contributor to the work. Anyone not within these categories will be placed in the “Other/Unspecified” category, with an additional category for anyone who is unemployed.

Language – As of now, all of the works in this collection are in English. This category is here to leave room for an expansion to work in other languages as well in the future.

This section is outlining the obsessions and compulsions that are primarily represented in the works in my database. Obsessions and compulsions are listed separately because any obsession can result in any compulsion. OCD is not rational. It can be something that seems to make sense, like sanitizing doorknobs because of contamination obsessions, but it could also be knocking on certain sections of a wall before leaving your home to prevent a loved one from dying. 

This is still a simplified look at obsessions and compulsions. In reality, many people experience more than one or two subtypes. This is meant to represent patterns in media, but it is not fully representative of the disorder itself. This section also lists many outside resources to hopefully combat the misinformation present in media and to provide additional resources for those interested in learning more.

Obsessions Categories

Main Obsession – Based on The Mindfulness Workbook for OCD: A Guide to Overcoming Obsessions and Compulsions Using Mindfulness and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy as well as the National Institute of Mental Health. These categories are separate to indicate how any obsession can come with any compulsion.

Important note: OCD is ego-dystonic. That means that all intrusive thoughts are opposed to the individual’s core values. They do not clean because they enjoy it, they clean because they feel like they have to. People with harm-based obsessions, such as intrusive thoughts about taking a knife and using it to hurt themselves or others, are no more likely to do that than anyone else. These thoughts are opposed to their values, which is what motivates the compulsion, which is an attempt to prevent the obsession from becoming reality.

Categories of Obsessions:

• Just Right/Perfectionism Obsessions originating from a sense of incompleteness that has to be “fixed” by fulfilling a specific behavior until it feels right.
           You may know someone who’s said something along the lines of “I’m so OCD!” because they like to be organized. In reality, these
           obsessions are distressing and can be extremely disruptive for a person’s daily life. IOCDF’s guide to this category is a useful way
           to understand the mental component of what makes this type of perfectionism into an obsessive behavior rather than simply a
           preference towards organization.
• Contamination:  Obsessions surrounding contamination of yourself or others and related thoughts.
           Similarly to “just right” obsessions, although this is one of the most highly represented categories in public consciousness
           surrounding OCD, it is also very misunderstood. This guide from NOCD provides helpful examples of lived experiences with
           contamination OCD as well as some of the most commonly associated compulsions.
• Scrupulosity (Religious/Moral): Any obsessions questioning spirituality or moral value.
           Recommended further reading is this article for understanding how it can present in religion, and this article for an insightful
           look into how moral obsessions can operate outside of a religious context, as well as how it interacts with popular media.
• Responsibility: Obsessions surrounding responsibility for events out of their control.
           Responsibility obsessions are similar to just right obsessions in the need for perfection, although the motivation is different. It
           can also manifest as an immense fear of failure. OCD & Anxiety Online outlines some of the ways this can manifest and
           treatments for it.
• Harm: Harm obsessions are violence-based intrusive thoughts, usually based in the fear of harming yourself or others.
           This fear can be of doing it accidentally, such as while driving, or a fear of losing control and physically harming someone else,
           despite having no desire to do so. Healthline provides a useful overview of how this can present.
• Relationship: Relationship obsessions are any intrusive thoughts centering on relationships.
           This category primarily focuses on romantic relationships, but OCD can absolutely manifest outside of that context as well. The
           thoughts can center around perceived flaws in the relationship on the part of the partner with OCD or the partner without OCD.
           They can be very distressing and affect the person’s ability to have healthy relationships. For an overview of what this can look
           like in different contexts, the IOCDF’s page on relationship OCD is a great resource.
• Sexual: Sexual obsessions are any obsessions that focus on sex, especially in taboo categories (Incest, pedophilia, sexuality, etc.).
           This is several categories flattened into one. This is not because the independent categories are not important, but merely due to
           a lack of media representation that would necessitate individual categories for this project. We are leaving room for expansion if
           the project calls for it in the future. WebMD’s article on sexual obsessions outlines the different intrusive thoughts it can manifest
           as and the importance of remembering the ego-dystonic nature of OCD.
• Real Event/False Memory: Real event/false memory obsessions focus on doubt of your own memories.
           A person with false memory OCD may experience a persistent fear that they accidentally hit someone on their drive back from
           work. They did not witness this, and there’s no evidence that it happens, but the thought persists. They may go back to the site
           of the suspected accident in attempt to check for any evidence of what occurred. It could also center around an event that
           did happen, and the doubt it focused on whether or not the way they behaved in that moment makes them a bad person, or
           whether they made the right choice. NOCD’s article on the topic outlines ways it can present and associated behaviors.
• Pure-O: Pure-Obsessional or Primarily obsessional OCD is a description for OCD which has few visible compulsions associated with it. This doesn’t mean that no compulsions are taking place, just that they are not visible (Examples may include reassurance seeking, ruminating, avoidance, mental checking, and other behaviors that are less observable).
           This category is unofficial and heavily debated. It is used here not because it should be considered a separate category of OCD to
           other types, but simply because it is the way that some of the creators represented on this site describe their OCD and the OCD
           they aimed to depict, and we do not feel it is our place to retroactively diagnose them with a different subtype than the one they
           identify with. With that in mind, please leave room to critically engage with this category and how it can be used generally to
           determine someone’s subtype simply by what an outsider would perceive rather than the individual’s actual lived experience. To
           learn more, we recommend this article for an overview and this study for a more in-depth examination of the subject.
• Hoarding: This is the only subtype that is listed as both an obsession and a compulsion. At this moment, the relationship that hoarding can have with OCD is still fairly unexplored in research. They are at the very least comorbid disorders, and at most, hoarding is a subtype of OCD. Regardless, I encountered several depictions of hoarding as an obsessional and compulsive behavior, and thus are listing it here. We are open to changing this use of the categories at a later date if it seems like this is inaccurate to people with hoarding disorder as a lived experience. To learn more, we recommend NOCD’s overview of the link between hoarding and OCD.
• Other/Unspecified: This is a category for any obsessions that don’t fit within one of these categories. If the same uncategorized obsession appears enough times, it will be made into a category (this was the case with hoarding). Otherwise, the annotated bibliography will specify what the obsessions were.

Secondary Obsession – OCD is not a binary, and not all experiences align entirely with one obsessive category. This category is to allow some flexibility in showing the most represented forms of obsessions in the work without framing it as though OCD is always just one. The “No Second” category is used when only one type of obsession is dominant in the narrative.

Compulsions Categories

Main Compulsion – Compulsions based on National Institute of Mental Health as well as the compulsions described within the media represented. Although obsessions and compulsions may be correlated with each other, they are not the same and do not always equal each other. These categories are separate to indicate how any obsession can come with any compulsion.

Categories of Compulsions:

• Checking: This is a behavior that can be both mental and physical, checking thoughts, objects, tasks, or anything else that feels necessary to the individual to ensure completeness.
• Ordering: Putting objects in a specific place, having an established order for tasks or objects that are compulsively enforced.
• Washing/Cleaning: This can include washing/cleaning hands, surfaces, or any other object. 
• Counting: This can include counting steps, breaths, tapping, or any other pattern.
• Reciting: Reciting a specific phrase associated with a specific outcome to the individual, such as prayer and other recitations.
• Confessing/Reassurance Seeking: This can manifest as confessing behaviors or thoughts to other people in an effort to verify that you weren’t in the wrong and/or to make sure other people can hold you accountable. The second resource listed under scrupulosity is useful for understanding how confessions can even be done for events that didn’t happen and for thoughts that are ego-dystonic and therefore not representative of the person’s actual values.
• Ruminating: This is a mental behavior that involves, according to the OCD & Anxiety Center, “engaging in a repetitive negative thought process that loops continuously in the mind without end or completion.” Because it is a mental behavior, it is often mistaken as an obsession. It is defined as a compulsion because it is a thought process that takes place in response to a distressing intrusive thought, which is the obsession.
• Hoarding: The act of hoarding objects to an extent that affects a physical location’s ability to do its intended function (For example, the ability to sit in a living room, or cook in a kitchen) or otherwise affects the wellbeing of yourself and others. For further information on this compulsion and its association with OCD, refer to the hoarding section in the obsessions category.
• Avoidance: Any avoidance, both mental and physical. In the case of Harm OCD, this may involve avoiding sharp objects or other items that are associated with potential harm in the obsessions. The avoidance can also be of a location or specific people, or mental avoidance of a distressing topic.
• Unspecified/Other: Any compulsion that does not fall within these primary categories. Compulsions can be very individual and specific, so this category is listed in order to allow for those to be represented as well without having their own separate categories. If a compulsive behavior not listed appears multiple times across multiple works, it will be added to the categories above.

Secondary Compulsion – OCD is not a binary, and not very few experiences align entirely with one compulsion. This category is to allow some flexibility in showing the most represented forms of obsessions in the work without framing it as though OCD is always just one.