Compulsive – What Does it Mean?

The word “compulsive” has worked its way into pop culture vernacular to describe individuals who may be meticulous, single-minded or particularly focused. However, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), as defined by the National Institute of Mental Health, is “an anxiety disorder that is characterized by recurrent, unwanted thoughts (obsessions) and/or repetitive behaviours (compulsions)”.

The following search frequency investigation quantifies and ranks searches for “obsessive compulsive disorder” and related phrases. OCD is of particular interest to addictions specialists because those suffering from this disorder are at a far greater risk of developing a drug or alcohol addiction.

Compulsive Shopping – Disorder or Pastime?

Is someone who shops three times a week suffering from “compulsive shopping” or do they simply enjoy the pastime? Although OCD obsessions and compulsions can take many forms, they can sometimes be confused with chosen behaviours that may appear self-destructive. When is an apparent “compulsive” behaviour actually OCD? Obsessions and compulsions occupy at least an hour a day, an individual derives no pleasure from these behaviours or rituals, and the thoughts, behaviours or rituals are unwanted.

Given these guidelines, even some of the compulsive search phrases could be called into question. Several interesting words in Graph 2, the top 100 words used in compulsive searches, include “talking”, “cleaning”, “eating”, “lying”, “hoarding”, “masturbation” and “shopping”. Other intriguing inquiries concern Howard Hughes – “howard hughes obsessive compulsive” and “howard hughes obsessive”. Obviously, Howard Hughes is famous for things other than his publishing success.

Compulsive - Prevalent Search Topics - Graph 1

(Continued on Graph 3 at the bottom of this page)

Top 30 two and three word combinations

	estimated searches/year across all search engines
	0		630,000
obsessive compulsive	615838
compulsive disorder	531512
obsessive compulsive disorder	498571
compulsive personality	48094
obsessive compulsive personality	46352
personality disorder	41878
compulsive personality disorder	41684
obsessive compulsive personality disorder	41455
compulsive behavior	20621
treatment obsessive compulsive disorder	18104
compulsive eating	16889
obsessive compulsive behavior	16680
causes of obsessive compulsive	16539
compulsive lying	15503
compulsive overeating	14654
obsessive compulsive disorder symptoms	10656
compulsive disorder symptoms	10656
signs of obsessive compulsive	10625
compulsive disorders	9731
obsecive compulsive disorder	9127
compulsive gambling	9056
compulsive hoarding	8561
howard hughes obsessive compulsive	7121
howard hughes obsessive	7121
eating disorder	6942
compulsive eating disorder	6920
treatment for obsessive compulsive	6660
obsesive compulsive	6339
obsessive compulsive disorders	6254
what is obsessive	6010
what is obsessive compulsive	6010
	0		630,000

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder – Concentrated Searches with Inventive Spelling

While the majority of the “compulsive” searches are concentrated on Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, it is interesting to note the number of misspelled words associated with this search frequency study. In comparison to other addictions research studies, this “compulsive” study has a far greater number of misspelled words. Some of the misspellings include, “obsecive”, “obsesive”, “obcessive”, “obssesive,” “obessive,” “dissorder”, “masterbation,” and “disorderder”. One possible explanation for these misspellings may come from a 1998 study by Anthony and Downie showing education to be a factor in OCD rates. OCD is lower for those who successfully graduated high school compared to those who did not (1.9% to 3.4%).

Compulsive Market Research - Graph 2

Top 100 words used in compulsive searches
(Top 1000 can be found at Top 100 compulsive exact phrases and top 1,000 concepts/words. - Graph 5)

	estimated searches/year across all search engines
	0		630,000
obsessive	616996
disorder	587047
personality	49752
treatment	31154
behavior	20788
causes	19132
eating	18543
lying	16335
overeating	14666
children	12875
symptoms	11390
signs	10675
disorders	10295
obsecive	9127
gambling	9070
what	8698
hoarding	8589
howard	7163
hughes	7127
obsesive	6346
liar	6000
definition	5681
brown	3852
yale	3851
scale	3826
obcessive	3707
spending	3698
liars	3660
case	3562
picking	3477
masturbation	3374
cause	3361
skin	3251
how	3245
shopping	3214
articles	3041
test	2910
studies	2825
obssesive	2797
medications	2796
facts	2777
treatments	2685
obssessive	2517
history	2496
statistics	2364
about	2271
medication	2255
stories	2249
counting	2208
gamblers	2146
exercising	2131
obessive	2110
ocd	1975
people	1956
tests	1943
help	1885
brain	1836
child	1703
natural	1689
cures	1687
bipolar	1681
famous	1677
anxiety	1677
overeaters	1642
overcoming	1585
dissorder	1504
wikipedia	1477
addiction	1441
relationships	1379
stop	1364
cleaning	1302
research	1243
depression	1227
sexual	1216
pictures	1176
anonymous	1165
eater	1160
spectrum	1159
eaters	1158
excessive	1155
behaviors	1154
masterbation	1140
talking	1130
washing	1117
graphs	1113
hand	1110
disoreder	1105
freud	1102
hoarders	1025
books	1013
blog	969
therapy	951
writing	938
syndrome	938
hoarder	935
know	910
cognitive	903
behavioral	879
nutrition	805
define	794
	0		630,000

Addictions Research Comes to the Forefront in Montreal, Canada

Just outside Montreal, Canada, Clear Haven Center is fast becoming a hub for innovative addictions research. With its generous sponsorship of search frequency research, Clear Haven is continually contributing to overall addictions research as well as constantly improving its own programs and resources.

Compulsive - Prevalent Search Topics, Continued - Graph 3

Top 31 - 100 two and three word combinations
(Top 30 are in Graph 1 above)

	estimated searches/year across all search engines
	1,000		6200
compulsive liar	5999
obsesive compulsive disorder	5832
definition of obsessive	5521
definition of obsessive compulsive	5521
compulsive disorder in children	5365
compulsive disorder treatment	4004
obsessive compulsive disorder treatment	3985
yale brown obsessive compulsive	3838
yale brown obsessive	3838
obsessive compulsive scale	3821
obcessive compulsive	3707
compulsive spending	3694
compulsive liars	3658
obsessive compulsive disorder case	3476
obcessive compulsive disorder	3463
compulsive masturbation	3359
cause of obsessive compulsive	3297
compulsive shopping	3094
compulsive skin picking	2829
disorder test	2806
obsessive compulsive disorder test	2802
obssesive compulsive	2792
obssessive compulsive	2516
obssesive compulsive disorder	2351
compulsive counting	2205
children obsessive compulsive	2200
children obsessive compulsive disorder	2196
compulsive gamblers	2144
obessive compulsive	2107
compulsive exercising	2040
obessive compulsive disorder	2026
compulsive gambling facts	2018
obssessive compulsive disorder	1934
compulsive lying disorder	1869
lying disorder	1869
ocd obsessive	1708
ocd obsessive compulsive disorder	1703
compulsive disorder children	1679
obsessive compulsive disorder children	1673
obsessive compulsive disorder causes	1660
obsessive compulsive disorder treatments	1658
obsessive compulsive disorder child	1657
disorder tests	1651
obsessive compulsive disorder tests	1650
bipolar and obsessive compulsive	1646
compulsive overeaters	1641
overcoming compulsive	1535
overeating disorder	1508
compulsive overeating disorder	1508
compulsive dissorder	1494
obsessive compulsive hoarding	1474
medication obsessive compulsive	1466
obsessive compulsive disorder wikipedia	1462
compulsive over eating	1452
obsessive compulsive disorder relationships	1370
compulsive anxiety	1327
compulsive cleaning	1297
overcoming compulsive eating	1289
about obsessive compulsive disorder	1210
obsessive compulsive spectrum	1158
compulsive eater	1154
compulsive eaters	1153
compulsive behaviors	1152
excessive compulsive	1147
what is compulsive	1147
compulsive masterbation	1138
compulsive talking	1129
obsessive compulsive dissorder	1128
excessive compulsive disorder	1125
disorders in children	1119
	1,000		6200