Is It Anxiety or OCD?

By Haley Keizer M.S. / Outpatient Therapist | May 29, 2026

We’ve all been there, minds racing through a mental to-do list, or replaying an awkward conversation we had five years ago. Anxiety is a passenger in many people’s lives. It’s an alarm system meant to keep us safe. But for some of us, that alarm system doesn’t just beep when there’s a fire, it beeps all day long about things that don’t make sense. 

As a clinician, I see many people who come in believing that they are simply “really anxious”. But as we sit together and peel back the layers, it is often discovered what they’re experiencing isn’t “just” anxiety, it’s OCD. 

Anxiety: The Worldly Worry

Generalized anxiety usually feels like a magnifying glass, taking real-life stressors – money, kids, work, or your job – and makes them feel overwhelming and huge. Anxiety is mostly logical, worrying about something that could realistically happen. It’s often about the future, and tends to move on once the stressful event passes. 

OCD: The Internal Loop

OCD often feels like a broken record, rather than a magnifying glass. It isn’t just worry, it demands certainty and answers to questions that have no answer. 

An intrusive thought pops into your head that feels “wrong” or scary, and it might be. It may sound like, “What if I left the stove on and the house burns down?” of even something darker that doesn’t align with who you are or what you value. 

To make that scary thought go away, you feel compelled to do something. Maybe you take a picture of the stove. You might check it ten times. Maybe you repeatedly ask your partner “do you love me”, or maybe you spend hours in your head trying to prove that you are a good person. But that is all a trap. The “fix” (the compulsion) works for a short amount of time, but then the intrusive thought comes back louder and quicker.

How to tell if it is Anxiety or OCD? 

Ask yourself: “Does thinking about this help me solve a problem, or am I performing a ritual to feel safe?”

As a clinician, I am not big on putting people in boxes, but I am big on getting you the right kind of help and relief. If you treat OCD with standard talk therapy or positive thinking alone, it can backfire. If a therapist spends a session trying to convince you that your house won’t burn down, they may unintentionally feed the OCD loop. Instead, I use a compassionate approach called Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), which teaches you to lean into the uncertainty. I will help you to hear the broken record, and instead of trying to fix it, learn to let it play in the background, while you continue to live your life. 

Resources for your Journey

Healing rarely happens in one session alone. OCD treatment often happens outside of the therapy room. Here are a few resources I trust and recommend to my clients to help bridge the gap between sessions. 

To Read: Freedom from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

To Listen: OCD vs. Anxiety: How to Finally Tell the Difference by Calming Coping

You Aren’t Your Thoughts

If you feel like you’re stuck in a cycle you can’t break, let’s talk. At Ensō, I am here to help you find that sense of wholeness and peace, even in the midst of the “what ifs”. 

And remember, don’t believe everything you think.