OCD Test for Kids and Teens

Obsessive-compulsive disorder, or OCD, is a mental health disorder that often first develops in children from six to nine years old. Kids with OCD have intrusive thoughts and worries that make them extremely anxious, and they develop rituals they feel compelled to perform to keep those anxieties at bay. These unwanted thoughts and worries are called obsessions, and the rituals they feel compelled to repeat are called compulsions.

If you’re looking for a free OCD test, you can use our Symptom Checker to help you determine if your child might have OCD. When you answer a few simple questions about your child’s behaviors, you’ll receive a more specific list of behaviors. If they correspond with the symptoms associated with OCD, it will let you know. If your answers to the quiz suggest another disorder, you’ll see that, too

The Symptom Checker was developed in partnership with expert clinicians and is aligned with the Child Mind Institute’s rigorous editorial standards.

Only a mental health professional can diagnose OCD. But if you’re looking for an online OCD test, our Symptom Checker can help you know if the behaviors you notice in your child could be signs of OCD, or something else. You’ll also find links to articles where you can learn more and help you prepare for a conversation with a mental health professional who can diagnose your child.

Children with OCD develop unwanted thoughts and worries, called “obsessions,” that make them feel upset and anxious. They perform actions or rituals, called “compulsions,” that alleviate their anxiety. But the anxiety comes back, so they feel compelled to keep repeating the rituals, and as it get more severe, it interferes with their ability to function.

Some common obsessions in OCD are:

• Contamination: Kids with this obsession are sometimes called “germophobes.” They worry excessively about things being dirty and getting sick.
• Magical thinking: This is a kind of superstition about bad things happening, like “step on a crack, break your mother’s back.” A child might think, “Unless my things are lined up in a certain way, my mom will get in a car accident.”
• Scrupulosity: This is when kids have obsessive worries about offending God or being blasphemous in some way.
• Aggressive obsessions: These kids can’t stop thinking about bad things they could do. “What if I hurt someone? What if I stab someone? What if I kill someone?”
• The “just right” feeling: Some kids feel they need to do something until they get the “right feeling,” though they may not know why it feels right. So they might think: “I’ll line these things up until it feels right, and then I’ll stop.”

Some common kinds of  OCD compulsions:

• Rituals involving other people, including asking a person the same question repeatedly or asking a parent to perform a particular mealtime ritual
• Cleaning, including excessive or ritualized washing hands
• Checking, including checking locks, checking to make sure a mistake wasn’t made, and checking to make sure things are safe
• Repeating, including rereading, rewriting, and repeating actions like going in and out of a doorway
• Counting, including counting certain objects, numbers, and words
• Arranging, including ordering things so that they are symmetrical, even, or line up in a specific pattern
• Saving, including hoarding and difficulty throwing things away
• Superstitious behaviors, including touching things to prevent something bad from happening or avoiding certain things

Young children may not recognize that their thoughts and fears are exaggerated or unrealistic, and they may not be fully aware of why they are compelled to perform a ritual. And older children often hide their compulsions because they are embarrassed by them. Parents might notice signs such as:

• Repeatedly confessing “bad thoughts” such as thoughts that are mean, sexual, or violent
• Repeated handwashing, locking and relocking doors, or touching things in a certain order
• Extreme or exaggerated fears of contamination, family members being hurt or harmed, or doing harm themselves
• Use of magical thinking, such as, “If I touch everything in the room, Mom won’t be killed in a car accident”
• Repeatedly seeking assurances about the future
• Intolerance for certain words or sounds

Behaviors of children with OCD can be confusing. Young children often don’t realize that their extreme fears are unrealistic. They may not be able explain what they’re feeling, and sometimes they don’t know why they’re repeating these rituals, only that it makes them feel better. Older children who do know that their obsessions are unusual often hide them and do their compulsions in secret, because they are embarrassed by them. Some children suppress their compulsions while they are in school to avoid having friends and teachers know about them, and then they act out (or “decompensate”) when they get home.

Children as young as five can develop OCD, and it frequently appears in kids between six and nine years old.

A pediatrician or family doctor can help identify OCD, but the full evaluation should be done by someone specially trained in diagnosing mental health disorders, such as a psychiatrist, psychologist, or social worker.