OCD statistics in 2024

Written By Michael Anderson

  • Around 2 in 3 people with OCD saw clinically significant outcomes from exposure and response (ERP) therapy via live teletherapy. (JMIR)

  • 90% of OCD patients also suffer from a comorbid disorder. A comorbid disorder is one that occurs alongside another (ex: depression and anxiety are often comorbid. Untreated OCD is often a contributing factor to the development of additional conditions). (ScienceDirect)

  • OCD is often misdiagnosed. In one study, family physicians misdiagnosed 50.5% of OCD cases. (NCBI)

  • Receiving an OCD diagnosis and effective treatment can take 14 to 17 years on average for adults.

  • OCD is the fourth most common mental disorder. (ScienceDirect)

  • Around 3% of the global population has OCD. (NCBI)

  • Over the course of one’s lifetime, 2.3%—or about 1 in 40—of U.S. adults have OCD. (NIMH)

  • In 2017, 5.2% of college athletes met the full criteria for an OCD diagnosis. (American Journal of Psychiatry)

  • You’re more likely to have OCD when pregnant or postpartum—approximately 7% of new mothers experience OCD in the postpartum period. (NCBI)

  • OCD tends to run in families, and around 45-65% of OCD diagnoses could be due to genetic factors. (NCBI)

  • Contamination OCD is one of the most prevalent subtypes of OCD. (NCBI)

  • On average, people are roughly 19 years old when reporting their first symptoms of OCD. (NCBI)

  • Three percent of OCD patients were preschool children aged between 2 and 3 years old. (NCBI)

  • Of the 3% of preschool children with OCD, 69% were male. (NCBI)

  • The average length of time between when a person begins experiencing OCD symptoms and when they receive a diagnosis is roughly 13 years. (NCBI)

  • Patients with a short length of time between symptom onset and receiving a diagnosis were significantly younger than patients with a long duration. (NCBI)

  • Patients with a shorter length of time between symptom onset and diagnosis were older when they first reported their OCD symptoms. (NCBI)

  • Women are older at the age of their first OCD treatment compared to men. (ScienceDirect).

Getting The Help You Need:

As a licensed mental health therapist trained in ERP, I will assist you through the treatment and how to implement effective response prevention measures. If you feel that OCD has had a negative impact on your life or a loved ones, you might consider counseling and ERP to learn how to handle it more effectively. Please feel free to reach out for a free consultation, where we can discuss impacts of OCD and benefits of counseling/ERP

Michael Anderson
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