Anxiety vs. OCD: How to Tell the Difference (and Why It Matters for Healing)

Jana Grimes
2 days ago
3 min read

By Jana Grimes, Trauma & EMDR Therapist

Most people understand anxiety. But fewer people understand OCD — and even fewer realize how often the two are confused.

If you’ve ever wondered:“Is this anxiety… or something else?”You’re not alone. Many of my clients come in feeling overwhelmed, ashamed, or stuck — not because their symptoms are “bad,” but because they’ve been mislabeled or misunderstood for years.

In this post, I’ll break down the difference between anxiety and OCD in a clear, compassionate, and nervous-system-informed way.

🧠 What Anxiety Actually Is

Anxiety is the body’s natural alarm system.It’s designed to protect you — not punish you.

Anxiety shows up as:

racing thoughts
physical tension
“what if” worrying
trouble focusing
overplanning or overpreparing

These thoughts usually have some flexibility. You can challenge them, soothe them, or work through them, and they tend to settle down over time.

Anxiety is uncomfortable — but it usually makes some sense based on the stress you’re under.

🔄 What OCD Really Is

OCD is not just being organized or liking things a certain way.It’s a loop in the brain where a disturbing thought triggers anxiety, and the brain tries to reduce that anxiety by doing a behavior or mental ritual.

This loop looks like:

Obsession An intrusive, unwanted, often disturbing thought or image.
Compulsion Something you do — mentally or physically — to relieve the anxiety (checking, googling, praying, repeating, avoiding, seeking reassurance).
Temporary relief The anxiety drops momentarily.
The thought returns The loop repeats… often stronger.

OCD thoughts usually feel:

intrusive
unwanted
frightening
out of alignment with who you are

And no matter how much you try to talk yourself out of them, they don’t let go.

🌟 The Key Differences

1. Anxiety is general. OCD is specific.

Anxiety: “What if something bad happens?” OCD: “What if this specific thought means something terrible about me?”

2. Anxiety thoughts are flexible. OCD thoughts are sticky.

Anxiety responds to reasoning and grounding. OCD temporarily calms, then snaps back.

3. OCD includes compulsions.

Anxiety doesn’t involve rituals or mental loops designed to “neutralize” danger.

4. OCD thoughts feel value-incongruent.

People with harm OCD, for example, are often the least violent people — their thoughts terrify them because they contradict their identity.

🔥 A Simple Analogy My Clients Love

Anxiety is a smoke detector going off because you burned toast. OCD is a smoke detector going off because it’s scared of the idea of smoke.

Both alarms are real. One is just reacting to a false threat — but your body doesn’t know that yet.

🧘‍♀️ Why This Matters for Healing

Because treatment is different.

For Anxiety

We focus on:

nervous system regulation
grounding
polyvagal strategies
EMDR
ACT
Cognitive flexibility

For OCD

We blend:

Exposure & Response Prevention (ERP)
OCD-informed EMDR
Nervous-system stabilization
ACT for intrusive thoughts
Restructuring the compulsion loop

When you know what you’re dealing with, you can get the right treatment — and relief comes faster.

🌿 Final Thoughts

If you see yourself in either of these patterns, you’re not broken. Your brain is doing its best to keep you safe using the tools it knows.

And the good news? Anxiety and OCD are both highly treatable.Your brain can learn a new way.

If you’d like support, EMDR and integrative trauma therapy can help you feel safer, calmer, and more in control again.