Obsessive–compulsive disorder in the context of "Sexual obsessions"

Compulsive behavior (or compulsion) is defined as performing an action persistently and repetitively. Compulsive behaviors could be an attempt to make obsessions go away. Compulsive behaviors are a need to reduce apprehension caused by internal feelings a person wants to abstain from or control. A major cause of compulsive behavior is obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD). "Compulsive behavior is when someone keeps doing the same action because they feel like they have to, even though they know these actions do not align with their goals." There are many different types of compulsive behaviors including shopping, hoarding, eating, gambling, trichotillomania and picking skin, itching, checking, counting, washing, sex, and more. Also, there are cultural examples of compulsive behavior.

Disgust (Middle French: desgouster, from Latin gustus, 'taste') is an emotional response of rejection or revulsion to something potentially contagious or something considered offensive, distasteful or unpleasant. In The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, Charles Darwin wrote that disgust is a sensation that refers to something revolting. Disgust is experienced primarily in relation to the sense of taste (either perceived or imagined), and secondarily to anything which causes a similar feeling by sense of smell, touch, or vision. Musically sensitive people may even be disgusted by the cacophony of inharmonious sounds. Research has continually proven a relationship between disgust and anxiety disorders such as arachnophobia, blood-injection-injury type phobias, and contamination fear related obsessive–compulsive disorder (also known as OCD).

Disgust is one of the basic emotions of Robert Plutchik's theory of emotions, and has been studied extensively by Paul Rozin. It invokes a characteristic facial expression, one of Paul Ekman's six universal facial expressions of emotion. Unlike the emotions of fear, anger, and sadness, disgust is associated with a decrease in heart rate (for body-envelope violations) and proto-nausea of the stomach (for bodily effluvia).

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a form of psychotherapy that aims to reduce symptoms of various mental health conditions, primarily depression, and disorders such as PTSD and anxiety disorders. This therapy focuses on challenging unhelpful and irrational negative thoughts and beliefs, referred to as 'self-talk' and replacing them with more rational positive self-talk. This alteration in a person's thinking produces less anxiety and depression. It was developed by psychoanalyst Aaron Beck in the 1950's.

Cognitive behavioral therapy focuses on challenging and changing cognitive distortions (thoughts, beliefs, and attitudes) and their associated behaviors in order to improve emotional regulation and help the individual develop coping strategies to address problems. Though originally designed as an approach to treat depression, CBT is often prescribed for the evidence-informed treatment of many mental health and other conditions, including OCD, generalized anxiety disorder, substance use disorders, marital problems, ADHD, and eating disorders. CBT includes a number of cognitive or behavioral psychotherapies that treat defined psychopathologies using evidence-based techniques and strategies.

Neuropsychiatry is a branch of medicine that deals with psychiatry as it relates to neurology, in an effort to understand and attribute behavior to the interaction of neurobiology and social psychology factors. Within neuropsychiatry, the mind is considered "as an emergent property of the brain", whereas other behavioral and neurological specialties might consider the two as separate entities. Those disciplines are typically practiced separately.

Currently, neuropsychiatry has become a growing subspecialty of neurology as it closely relates the fields of neuropsychology and behavioral neurology, and attempts to utilize this understanding to better understand psychological trauma, autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and Tourette syndrome, among others.

Dermatophagia (from Ancient Greek δέρμα (derma) 'skin' and φαγεία (phageia) 'eating') or dermatodaxia (from δήξις (dexis) 'biting') is a compulsion disorder of gnawing or biting one's own skin, most commonly at the fingers. This action can either be conscious or unconscious and it is considered to be a type of pica. Those affected with dermatophagia typically bite the skin around the nails, leading to bleeding and discoloration over time. Some people also bite on their skin on their finger knuckles which can lead to pain and bleeding just by moving their fingers.

In herpetology, dermatophagia is used to correctly describe the act in which amphibians and reptiles eat the skin they shed, but this is not what occurs in humans. Those diagnosed with this disorder do not develop wounds on the bitten areas of their hands or lose any skin. Instead, they experience a thickening of the skin being repeatedly bitten. Contemporary research suggests a link between impulse-control disorders and obsessive–compulsive disorders, and this was addressed in the DSM-5 when dermatophagia and other related disorders were classified as 'other specified obsessive-compulsive related disorders' and are given the specification of body focused repetitive behavior.

Problem gambling, also known as pathological gambling, gambling disorder, or ludomania, is repetitive gambling behavior despite harm and negative consequences. Problem gambling may be diagnosed as a mental disorder according to DSM-5 if certain diagnostic criteria are met. Pathological gambling is a common disorder associated with social and family costs.

The DSM-5 has re-classified the condition as an addictive disorder, with those affected exhibiting many similarities to those with substance addictions. The term gambling addiction has long been used in the recovery movement. Pathological gambling was long considered by the American Psychiatric Association to be an impulse-control disorder rather than an addiction. However, data suggests a closer relationship between pathological gambling and substance use disorders than exists between PG and obsessive–compulsive disorder, mainly because the behaviors in problem gambling and most primary substance use disorders (i.e., those not resulting from a desire to "self-medicate" for another condition such as depression) seek to activate the brain's reward mechanisms, while the behaviors characterizing obsessive–compulsive disorder are prompted by overactive and misplaced signals from the brain's fear mechanisms.

Excoriation disorder, more commonly known as dermatillomania, is a mental disorder on the obsessive–compulsive spectrum that is characterized by the repeated urge or impulse to pick at one's own skin, to the extent that either psychological or physical damage is caused. The exact causes of this disorder are unclear but are believed to involve a combination of genetic, psychological, and environmental factors, including stress and underlying mental health conditions such as anxiety or obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Individuals with excoriation disorder may also experience co-occurring conditions like depression or body dysmorphic disorder (BDD). Treatment typically involves cognitive behavioral therapy and may include medications. Without intervention, the disorder can lead to serious medical complications.

Arithmomania (from Greek arithmós, "number", and maníā, "compulsion") is a mental disorder that may be seen as an expression of obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD). Individuals experiencing this disorder have a strong need to count their actions or objects in their surroundings.

For example, individuals with arithmomania may feel compelled to count steps while climbing or descending stairs or to tally the number of letters in words. They often feel compelled to repeat an action a specific number of times to avert a perceived catastrophe. Other examples include counting tiles on floors or ceilings, lines on highways, or touching objects a specific number of times, such as doorknobs or tables.