Lesson 2 of 6 · Two things that look identical from outside
What this is called, and what is known about it
It has a name, it has been studied for decades, and in communities where religious practice matters it is one of the most frequent forms this takes. How often it appears inside obsessive compulsive disorder varies enormously depending on how religious the community studied is, which is itself the finding, and is why no single percentage is printed here. None of the following is a description of a defect in your faith.
What the research says
Scrupulosity is the name for this pattern when its content is religious or moral. It is not a separate illness but a content area, which is why the machinery is the same one that runs on locks and handwashing.
Scrupulosity is the term for obsessive compulsive presentations with religious or moral content. It is not a separate illness, it is a content area, which is why the mechanism is the same one that runs on locks and contamination. What defines an obsession is not what it is about. It is that the thought is intrusive, unwanted, felt as unlike you, and distressing, and that it drives an act meant to reduce the distress. In religious presentations that act is usually mental, such as reviewing, checking whether you still believe, replaying the moment, or arguing internally.
Abramowitz JS, Jacoby RJ (2014). Scrupulosity: A cognitive-behavioral analysis and implications for treatment. Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders, 3(2), 140 to 149 doi
This has been described, named and studied for far longer than most people assume. You are not in new territory, and nobody has to invent a way to help you.
Traces the history of the category, which is long. This has been described, named and studied for a great deal longer than most people assume.
Miller CH, Hedges DW (2008). Scrupulosity disorder: an overview and introductory analysis. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 22(6), 1042 to 1058 doi
Estimates of how common religious content is within this condition range from almost none of a sample to almost all of it, and the variation tracks how religious the surrounding community is. So the content follows the culture, not the illness.
These authors report that the frequency of scrupulosity within obsessive compulsive disorder runs across the whole range in the published literature, from none of a sample to nearly all of it, and that the variation tracks how much religious practice matters in the community being studied. That range is the honest answer, and it is why a single number would be misleading.
Greenberg D, Huppert JD (2010). Scrupulosity: a unique subtype of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Current Psychiatry Reports, 12(4), 282 to 289 doi
A national survey put the lifetime rate at roughly 2 in every 100 adults. The underlying condition is not rare, and you are not an unusual case.
A national survey putting lifetime obsessive compulsive disorder at roughly 2 in every 100 adults. The underlying condition is not rare.
Ruscio AM, Stein DJ, Chiu WT, Kessler RC (2010). The epidemiology of obsessive-compulsive disorder in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication. Molecular Psychiatry, 15(1), 53 to 63 doi