How devices and social media are shaping new OCD impacts on young people in India

Ananya (name changed), a 19-year-old college student in Karnataka, begins her day the way many students do: phone alarm, hurried tea, a quick scan of messages. But then the spiral starts. She checks her backpack again and again – ID card, hall ticket, wallet – each time certain she has missed something. On the bus, a thought flashes: What if I said something offensive in that class group? She scrolls through old chats, screenshots her messages “for proof,” deletes and retypes harmless sentences, and spends the rest of the ride replaying conversations in her head.

By the time she reaches campus, she is exhausted – before classes have even begun.

This is not perfectionism or “overthinking.” It is what obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) can look like in young people today: not just the classic handwashing and lock-checking, but also newer, technology-shaped rituals – re-reading, screenshotting, repeated online reassurance-seeking, compulsive checking of notifications, and relentless mental reviewing.

Why this matters now

OCD often begins early. Many people first develop symptoms in their teens or early adulthood – precisely the years when academic demands, identity formation, and social pressures peak. In India, the context adds its own accelerants: high-stakes examinations, crowded living arrangements, rapid urbanisation, stigma around mental illness, and family systems that (with good intentions) may unknowingly reinforce symptoms.

At a population level, OCD is not rare. The Government of India’s National Mental Health Survey (2015-16) reported OCD prevalence at 0.8% among adults. While this percentage may appear small, it translates into a very large number of Indians living with the condition. And the same survey highlighted a sobering reality: across mental disorders, treatment gaps are enormous (often 70%-92%), meaning most people who need care do not receive it on time.

When OCD starts in school or college and remains untreated, it can quietly derail education, relationships, and confidence. Young people may not drop out dramatically; instead, they may keep functioning – while losing hours each day to rituals that no one sees.

 What OCD really is (and what it is not)

OCD has two parts:

Obsessions are intrusive, unwanted thoughts, doubts, images, or urges that trigger intense anxiety (“What if I contaminated someone?” “What if I made a terrible mistake?” “What if I am a bad person?”). Compulsions are behaviours or mental acts carried out to neutralise that anxiety (washing, checking, repeating, confessing, seeking reassurance, mentally reviewing, counting, arranging, or avoiding).

A key point that families and teachers should be aware of is that people with OCD usually know their fears are excessive; insight is often present. The problem is that reassurance and rituals provide only brief relief, after which the doubt returns, stronger – locking the person into a self-reinforcing loop.

The Indian face of OCD

OCD content often borrows from what a society values most.

Purity and religious themes: Repeated washing, fear of “impurity,” or intrusive blasphemous thoughts may be misread as devotion – until the person is spending hours on rituals and living in dread.

Family accommodation: Parents or siblings may participate – checking doors “one last time,” answering repeated questions, adjusting household routines to prevent the young person’s distress. This reduces conflict temporarily but strengthens OCD over time.

Academic and moral anxiety: Students may be tormented by fear of “ruining” a future – rechecking forms, re-reading notes endlessly, rewriting answers, or being unable to submit an assignment because it does not feel “just right.”

Digital compulsions: The smartphone becomes an extension of the disorder – compulsive rereading of messages, repeated checking of email submissions, endless “proof-seeking” online, or scouring the internet for certainty about health symptoms.

None of this is a character flaw. But it can become a disability if it steals time, attention, and the ability to tolerate uncertainty.

What happened after Covid-19?

Clinicians worldwide reported that COVID-19 intensified contamination fears and washing/checking behaviours in many people with OCD, and worsened symptoms in some children and adolescents. Reviews over the past few years have found consistent evidence of symptom exacerbation during the pandemic, particularly around contamination themes. 

In India, the pandemic also normalised frequent sanitising and threat-monitoring – behaviours that are protective in public health terms but can blur the line for someone vulnerable to OCD. For an anxious adolescent, the question becomes: Am I being careful – or am I trapped?

A practical rule of thumb: when the behaviour is driven by panic rather than purpose, and when it keeps expanding rather than stabilising, and results in dysfunction, OCD may be at play.

Getting the diagnosis right

OCD is diagnosable – and treatable. In specialist settings, clinicians often use structured assessments, including the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) to measure severity and track improvement.

It is also crucial to look for common co-occurring conditions – depression, other anxiety disorders, substance use, ADHD, and sometimes bipolar symptoms – because these change risk and treatment planning.

What actually helps (and what backfires)

Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP): The most effective psychological treatment for OCD is cognitive-behavioural therapy with ERP – gradual exposure to feared triggers while resisting compulsions, so the brain relearns that anxiety can rise and fall without rituals. It is uncomfortable at first, but it is evidence-based and life-changing when done well.

Medications: Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), often at higher doses than those used for depression (under medical supervision), can reduce symptom intensity. For some treatment-resistant cases, augmentation strategies (medication/brain stimulation/ketamine infusions) may be used by psychiatrists.

Family-based changes: For under-25s, family involvement is often decisive. The goal is not blame; it is strategy: reduce repeated reassurance, stop participating in rituals, support ERP homework, reward progress, not perfection.

What backfires is reassurance on a loop. If a young person asks 30 times, “Are you sure I didn’t offend them?” and the family answers 30 times, it teaches the brain that certainty is required for safety. The kinder move is to help the young person practise tolerating uncertainty – gradually, with professional guidance.

Access and stigma

India’s treatment gap means many young people reach care late – after symptoms have become entrenched and academic/self-esteem losses have accumulated. School and college settings can help by normalising help-seeking, training counsellors to recognise OCD (not mislabel it as “attention-seeking” or “laziness”), and creating clear referral pathways. Strengthening district-level services and tele-mental health can shorten the delay from onset to treatment.

OCD is frightening because it hijacks what we value – safety, faith, responsibility, love – and turns it into endless doubt. But it is also among the most treatable brain disorders when evidence-based care is available and started early.

For young people like Ananya, recovery does not mean never having an intrusive thought again. It means reclaiming time, choice, and confidence – learning that thoughts are not commands, uncertainty is survivable, and life can be lived without rituals running the day.

(Dr. Alok Kulkarni is a senior consultant psychiatrist at the Manas Institute of Mental Health, Hubballi, Karnataka. alokvkulkarni@gmail.com )