What is OCD?
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is often misunderstood as just excessive handwashing or checking locks. While those behaviors can be part of OCD, it’s much more complex than most people realize. OCD is driven by intrusive, unwanted thoughts, images, or urges (obsessions) that cause significant anxiety. In response, a person engages in behaviors or mental rituals (compulsions) to reduce distress or prevent something bad from happening.
Over time, this cycle can become exhausting, isolating, and difficult to interrupt, even when the person recognizes that the thoughts don’t reflect who they are or what they believe. In fact, many people with OCD know that their anxiety is irrational, excessive, and doesn't make much sense. The illogicalness of the worry is what separates obsessive compulsive disorder from generalized anxiety disorder.
How Do you know if you have OCD?
OCD can be hard to recognize, especially because it doesn’t always match common stereotypes. Many people don’t realize that OCD can involve primarily internal experiences, such as intrusive thoughts or mental rituals, rather than visible behaviors.
If you find yourself repeatedly battling unwanted thoughts, seeking certainty about your feelings or intentions, or spending a significant amount of time trying to neutralize anxiety, it may be worth talking with a mental health professional.
OCD Symptoms
- Intrusive thoughts or images that feel disturbing or unwanted
- Repetitive mental rituals, such as counting or silently repeating words
- Reassurance-seeking from yourself or others
- Having the unbearable feeling that something is off, incomplete, or “not quite right
- Avoidance of people, places, or situations that trigger anxiety
- Compulsive behaviors like checking, washing, or organizing
- Feeling stuck in a cycle that’s difficult to stop, even when it doesn’t feel logical
Different types of OCD
OCD looks different for everyone. For some people, it shows up in more familiar ways, such as fears about germs, cleanliness, or safety that lead to checking or washing behaviors. For others, the compulsions are mostly mental. This can involve constant rumination, over analyzing thoughts, or feeling the need to mentally “figure something out” until it finally feels resolved.
Mental OCD (rumination) can be especially hard to recognize because there may be no visible behaviors at all. From the outside, everything might appear fine, while internally the person feels stuck in an exhausting loop of doubt and self-questioning. This can lead to feeling isolated, irrational, or like you’re the only one struggling.
“I didn’t get diagnosed with ADHD and OCD until two or three years ago. So it was pretty new… It’s a lot easier to figure out once you know what’s going on.”
charli d'amelio
HOW ART THERAPY CAN HELP WITH OCD
OCD is often very “in your head,” which can make it feel nearly impossible to step out of intrusive thought cycles. Art therapy helps by giving those thoughts a physical form outside of the mind. When clients create art, they can externalize anxiety and gain distance from intrusive thoughts, making them feel less overwhelming or powerful.
Art therapy also provides opportunities to practice sitting with uncertainty and discomfort in a safe, supported way, without having to immediately solve or neutralize the thought. This can help shift the focus from controlling thoughts to noticing, tolerating, and responding to them differently.
Art Approaches used in OCD treatment
Art therapy is specifically tailored to each client’s needs, but some approaches can be especially helpful for treating OCD. Non-dominant hand drawings or scribble art can gently disrupt perfectionism and the urge for control. Creating art that represents OCD as a separate character or creature can help externalize intrusive thoughts and create space between the person and the obsession.
Intrusive thoughts often target a person’s core values and distort them, like morality, relationships, or spirituality, which can feel like a threat to one’s identity. Values-based art approaches can help clients separate who they are from what OCD tells them. By strengthening identity outside of OCD, clients can reconnect with what truly matters to them.
In art therapy, the emphasis is often on process over product. The goal isn’t to make obsessions disappear, but to build tolerance for uncertainty, self-compassion, and flexibility. Art therapy offers a creative and compassionate way to approach OCD treatment, helping clients build insight, flexibility, and self-understanding while learning to relate to their thoughts in new ways.
GET HELP WITH OCD
If you’re a New York resident interested in trying art therapy with us, check out our website to connect! If you’re a Rochester local, we have offices in Brighton and Pittsford. If not, we offer virtual sessions as well.
Learn more about how OCD shows up in anxiety, and how creative arts therapy at Spotted Rabbit Studio in Rochester can support calm, expression, and self-understanding.
Browse our upcoming Spring 2026 classes and events, and bond with like-minded individuals. You can see what’s coming up here! We also share updates and resources through our newsletter and social channels, if you’d like to stay connected.
Emma Annable, LCAT-P has a limited permit in creative arts therapy in NYS. She has an MS from Nazareth College in creative arts therapy and has been practicing art-based psychotherapy since 2025.
Emma has experienced OCD firsthand and specializes in working with clients who experience intense anxiety and rumination. Emma also specializes in treatment for neurodivergent and LGBTQIA+ kids, teens, and adults. Emma sees clients at Spotted Rabbit's Pittsford Studio and online.
Learn more about how Emma supports clients with OCD through art therapy, and to book a session with her.