The etiology of mental illness has been attributed to many different causes by people of various cultural backgrounds, including supernatural beliefs. This in turn affects the help-seeking behavior. Aim of this study was to explore the supernatural belief and pathways of care in patients with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) attending a tertiary care hospital located in north India.

In all, 89 consecutive patients diagnosed with OCD (according to the International Classification of Diseases–10th Revision (ICD-10)) and ≥ 15 years of age were evaluated for their supernatural belief and help seeking.

More than half of the patients (54%) believed in supernatural causes and 57.3% attributed their illness to supernatural causes. In addition to supernatural causes, many patients also attributed their illness to stress (household/work-related stress) or chemical imbalance in the body and or mind. About two-thirds of the patients (n = 58; 65.2%) first contacted a psychiatrist for their symptoms of OCD. Those who first contacted faith healers believed in one of the supernatural causations.

Patients with OCD hold multiple beliefs regarding the etiology and treatment of mental illness which can affect their pathways to care.