Purpose: This causal-comparative study aimed to compare childhood trauma and alexithymia between athletes with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and their non-affected counterparts.
Methods: Using a purposive sampling method, 50 athletes diagnosed with OCD and 50 non-affected athletes from Kermanshah Province in 2022 were selected and matched for homogeneity. Participants completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (Bernstein et al., 1994), the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (Bagby et al., 1994), and the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Goodman et al., 1989). Data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). 
Results: The results revealed significant differences between the two groups in three dimensions of childhood trauma—emotional abuse, physical abuse, and emotional neglect—and in the difficulty identifying feelings component of alexithymia (P<0.05).
Conclusions: These findings suggest that early screening for childhood trauma and alexithymia may aid in identifying athletes at risk for OCD and inform the design of tailored psychological interventions. Incorporating these factors into sports counseling programs could thus contribute to improved mental health and performance outcomes among athletes.