(medicine, psychology) A mental and behavioral disorder, characterized by obsessive intrusive thoughts and a compulsion to ease the resulting distress by repeating specific routines or rituals, regardless of their interference with other activities.
a 20-item self-report instrument that assesses the severity of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder symptoms along four empirically supported theme-based dimensions: (a) contamination, (b) responsibility for harm and mistakes, (c) incompleteness/symmetry, and (d) unacceptable (taboo) thoughts.