Tests

Contamination OCD test

Six questions about what happens after the worry about dirt, germs or illness turns up: what you wash, what you check, what you steer around. Nothing you answer leaves this browser, and there is no score at the end.

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Do you wash or clean for longer than you meant to?

Past the point you decided to stop, or starting again from the top.

Your answers stay in this browser. There is no account here, and nothing carrying them is ever sent anywhere.

What is this actually called?

The Yale-Brown symptom checklist lists contamination obsessions alongside cleaning and washing compulsions, which is the pattern these questions ask about. It is the washing and the checking that keep it going, not the dirt.

Why the questions never ask what you are afraid of

Because writing the fear out is the compulsion. Spelling out the worst version, then reading it back to see how it lands, is the same move as asking somebody to tell you it is fine, and it buys the same few minutes.

The published measures agree, which surprises most people. The OCI-R has eighteen items and not one of them asks what a thought is about: they ask whether you check more than you need to, whether you wash longer than you meant to, whether unwanted thoughts are hard to be rid of. The Yale-Brown checklist lists "checking that did not harm others" and "asking for reassurance over and over" as compulsions in their own right.

So the loop is what these questions ask about. The theme is only the door it came in through, which is why the answer here is a description rather than a verdict.

Questions people ask about this

How is this different from just being clean?
Cleaning has an end. The pattern these questions describe does not: the washing goes past where you meant to stop, the surface gets checked again after it was cleaned, and the certainty runs out faster each time.
Is contamination OCD a real diagnosis?
Contamination obsessions and cleaning compulsions are both named on the Yale-Brown symptom checklist, so the pattern is a recognised one. Whether it fits you is a question for a clinician rather than a web page.
Is this test a diagnosis?
No, and it is not built to be one. It asks what you do after the thought and hands that back to you in plain words. A clinician can assess and diagnose; nothing on a web page can.
Why is there no score?
Because a number is something to come back and check, and checking is the move this is describing. Retaking a quiz to see whether the figure moved is the loop, not a measure of it.
Do my answers get sent anywhere?
No. They stay in the browser while you answer, and there is no account and no email box on this page. If you carry them into the free check, they travel in your own browser's storage and nowhere else.

Other tests, and the whole loop

Themes overlap, and most people recognise more than one. These ask the same six questions in the shape each theme takes:

If the theme is not the useful question, the free check asks about the loop itself, and how to stop reassurance seeking is the guide with the method in it.

What these questions are shaped after

If you want help with the practice rather than another test.

Maybe is short lessons and a coach that will not tell you it is fine, however you ask. It is the same refusal this page runs on, held for as long as you need it. If you are struggling right now, here is who to contact.