The characteristics of OCD sometimes tend to focus on the individual's obsessive need to achieve perfection. A ritual that consists of continuous and vigorous hand-washing is caused by the individual's need to achieve cleanliness. People who don't have this ritual have other rituals that are motivated by the same thing. For example, Rapoport's first case study, Paul, always wound up getting "stuck" at the doorway because he was obsessed with the idea of achieving the "right/special" way of getting through doorways. Arnie, another subject of Rapoport's studies, was obsessed with the idea of perfecting his newspaper route. This obsession would motivate him to recheck his route to make sure everyone had a paper several times. A usual half-hour job would end up taking him four hours to accomplish. Morris, the third case study of Rapoport, was obsessed with being "neat" and "clean." As a child he would wash his hands until they bleed sometimes. As he got older and into college, he would fall behind on note and test-taking because he would spend all his time erasing errors that he had made while writing. Thus, though the rituals are different in action, they remain to be motivated by the same activator: the need to be perfect.

One of the main characteristics of OCD is the time consumption of each ritual. Because the individual feels compelled to repeat an act over and over again until he/she reaches satisfaction, the ritual tends to take a really long time. This effects the individual's day immensely. It interferes with his/her daily schedule, and often interrupts it so that he/she misses some very important events. Paul had to stop going to school because getting up and getting dressed took too long due of the rituals. Arnie had to drop out of college due to his obsessive reading rituals. Morris also had to drop out of college due to his studying rituals. All three of the subjects eventually quit going through their daily schedules, remaining in bed to avoid doing those time consuming rituals everyday.

Another main characteristic of OCD is compulsive thinking. Arnie and Morris were continuously haunted by horrid thoughts and images in their heads. Ideas of accidents, murder, sex and self-mutilation were constantly in their minds. These were uncomfortable thoughts, but they could not rid themselves of them no matter how hard they tried. This compulsive thinking was in itself a ritual. It tormented them, and it also consumed a lot of time, as they both were continuously distracted by these thoughts.

The causes Obsessive Compulsive Disorder are still quite unknown, but studies have shown a consistency among the rituals. As illustrated through Rapoport's three subjects, Paul, Arnie, and Morris, the different rituals are activated by similar motives. An example of an OCD characteristic is the time consumption of a ritual. Due to these time consuming rituals, an individual suffering from OCD can sometimes waste the whole day by trying to accomplish one task perfectly. Another example of an OCD characteristic is compulsive thinking. These thoughts and ideas usually haunt and torment the individual, distracting him/her from his/her daily activities. Thus, while Obsessive Compulsive Disorder remains to be a mysterious disorder, a lot can be learned from the characteristics due to the high similarity between the rituals.