These behaviors or mental acts are aimed at preventing or reducing distress or preventing some dreaded event or situation; however, these activities are not logically or practically connected to the issue, or, they are excessive. In addition, at some point during the course of the disorder, the individual must realize that his or her obsessions or compulsions are unreasonable or excessive.Moreover, the obsessions or compulsions must be time-consuming, often taking up more than one hour per day, or cause impairment in social, occupational, or scholastic functioning. It is helpful to quantify the severity of symptoms and impairment before and during treatment for OCD. In addition to the persons estimate of the time spent each day harboring obsessive-compulsive thoughts or behaviors, concrete tools can be used to gauge the persons condition. This may be done with rating scales, such as the Yale–Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS; expert rating) or the obsessive-compulsive inventory (OCI-R; self-rating). With measurements such as these, psychiatric consultation can be more appropriately determined, as it has been standardized.In regards to diagnosing, the health professional also looks to make sure that the signs of obsessions and compulsions are not the results of any drugs, prescription or recreational, that the patient may be taking.There are several types of obsessive thoughts that are found commonly in those with OCD.
In pediatric OCD, around 40% still have the disorder in adulthood, and around 40% qualify for remission. History
Plutarch, an ancient Greek philosopher and historian, describes an ancient Roman man who possibly had scrupulosity, which could be a symptom of OCD or OCPD. This man is described as "turning pale under his crown of flowers," praying with a "faltering voice," and scattering "incense with trembling hands. "In the 7th century AD, John Climacus records an instance of a young monk plagued by constant and overwhelming "temptations to blasphemy" consulting an older monk, who told him: "My son, I take upon myself all the sins which these temptations have led you, or may lead you, to commit. All I require of you is that for the future you pay no attention to them whatsoever. ": 212  The Cloud of Unknowing, a Christian mystical text from the late 14th century, recommends dealing with recurring obsessions by attempting to ignore them, and, if that fails, to "cower under them like a poor wretch and a coward overcome in battle, and reckon it to be a waste of your time for you to strive any longer against them", a technique now known as emotional flooding. : 213 From the 14th to the 16th century in Europe, it was believed that people who experienced blasphemous, sexual or other obsessive thoughts were possessed by the devil. : 213  Based on this reasoning, treatment involved banishing the "evil" from the "possessed" person through exorcism.