Written by: Virginia Kuhn, LPC
OCD Awareness Week takes place October 11–17, 2026. At Bloom & Breathe Therapy, we’re using this week to bring attention to the many ways obsessive-compulsive disorder can show up—including during pregnancy and postpartum—and to remind people that effective treatment is available. October 11–17, 2026
For someone living with OCD, everyday moments can become exhausting questions: “What if I hurt someone?” “Did I make a terrible mistake?” “Can I be completely sure my baby is safe?” Understanding what happens beneath these questions can help replace judgment with compassion.
What Is OCD?
Obsessive-compulsive disorder is a mental health condition involving obsessions, compulsions, or both. Symptoms can consume time, cause significant distress, and interfere with relationships, work, school, and everyday life.
Obsessions are recurring, unwanted thoughts, images, urges, or doubts. Compulsions are repetitive behaviors or mental acts a person feels driven to perform to reduce distress or prevent something feared from happening.
Compulsions may bring temporary relief, but the doubt often returns. Someone might check a locked door, feel briefly reassured, and then wonder whether they checked it correctly. Over time, the pressure to repeat the ritual can grow.
Enjoying organization, having a worry, or occasionally double-checking something does not automatically mean someone has OCD. The distress, repetitive cycle, and impact on daily life matter. National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
OCD Can Take Many Forms
OCD extends far beyond cleaning and handwashing. Common themes include:
Contamination: Fears involving germs, illness, bodily fluids, chemicals, or a feeling of being contaminated.
Harm and responsibility: Fears of accidentally causing an injury, making a dangerous mistake, or failing to prevent harm.
Unwanted sexual or violent thoughts: Distressing thoughts or images that conflict with what a person wants or values.
Religious or moral concerns: Persistent fears of sinning, being a bad person, or doing something morally wrong, sometimes called scrupulosity.
Relationships: Repeated doubts about one’s feelings, a partner’s feelings, or whether a relationship is “right.”
Symmetry and “just right” feelings: A need to arrange, repeat, or adjust things until they feel complete or correct.
Health or bodily sensations: Becoming caught in fears about illness or excessive attention to sensations such as breathing or swallowing.
Past events and uncertainty: Repeatedly reviewing memories to determine exactly what happened or what an event means about oneself.
These are examples, rather than separate diagnoses or a complete list. Themes can overlap and change. Similar concerns can also occur in other conditions, so an assessment looks at the whole pattern. National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Compulsions Are Not Always Visible
Some people spend hours reviewing conversations, checking their feelings, repeating phrases silently, or trying to replace a “bad” thought with a “good” one. Others repeatedly ask for reassurance, research online, confess thoughts, or avoid situations that trigger doubt.
Someone can appear calm while feeling trapped in an internal cycle. Recognizing mental rituals helps us understand why OCD may go unnoticed. iocdf.org
Postpartum OCD: When Fear Enters Everyday Parenting
Postpartum OCD describes OCD that begins or worsens after childbirth. The broader term perinatal OCD includes symptoms during pregnancy and postpartum. Obsessions often focus on a baby’s safety or fears of causing harm. Parents may feel ashamed or afraid to disclose them.
For example, a parent might think:
“What if I drop my baby while walking?”
“What if my baby stops breathing and I don’t notice?”
“Did I clean the bottle well enough?”
“What if visitors bring germs into our home?”
“What if having this disturbing thought means I want it to happen?”
Compulsions might include repeatedly checking breathing, excessive cleaning, mentally reviewing caregiving tasks, or seeking reassurance. Avoidance can involve bathing the baby, being alone with them, or going to public places.
Intrusive Thoughts Are Not the Same as Intent
In postpartum OCD, intrusive thoughts are typically unwanted and upsetting. A thought’s content alone does not establish someone’s wishes or intentions. Many parents experience intrusive thoughts without having OCD; persistent distress, compulsions, and interference with daily life signal a need for assessment.
Postpartum OCD and postpartum psychosis are different conditions. Hallucinations, delusions, severe confusion, or an intention to harm oneself or the baby require urgent medical evaluation. If there is immediate danger, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department. What is Perinatal OCD?
How Therapy Can Help
Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) is a well-supported treatment for OCD, including postpartum OCD. This form of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy helps people gradually approach triggers while practicing a different response to the urge to perform compulsions. Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP)
Treatment is collaborative and tailored to your goals. A parent might practice following an agreed-upon, medically appropriate caregiving routine while reducing extra checking driven by OCD. ERP preserves appropriate infant safety practices; the aim is to reduce rituals, rather than abandon responsible care.
Therapy can help you build tolerance for uncertainty and make more room for activities and relationships that matter to you. Medication may also be helpful. During pregnancy or breastfeeding, medication decisions should be discussed with a qualified prescriber who can weigh individual benefits and risks. How is Perinatal OCD Treated?
Turning Awareness Into Support
This week, we encourage our community to learn about OCD beyond stereotypes, avoid using “OCD” as shorthand for neatness, and listen without judgment when someone shares their experience. Loved ones can work with an OCD-trained clinician to offer support while reducing participation in rituals or repeated reassurance. Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP)
At Bloom & Breathe Therapy, we offer compassionate, evidence-based care for OCD and perinatal mental health concerns. We understand that sharing unwanted thoughts can feel vulnerable. You do not need to have the perfect words to begin a conversation.
If intrusive thoughts, checking, mental rituals, or avoidance are taking up more of your life, reach out to Bloom & Breathe Therapy to learn about treatment and scheduling a consultation.
This post is for educational purposes and does not replace individualized assessment or treatment.