For those with contaminations OCD, I have two questions for you: 1) Did it start in childhood for you or after a specific event linked to contamination/based on science and extrapolating it? 2) Can you give me one example of a thought/worry? I'm just curious to see what other people experience

Thank you for your answer! Very similar to my path

Thank you for your example. I'm very curious, so feel free to share whatever you feel confortable sharing :) I couldn't sit on benches or public transportations' seats without sitting on a plastic bag/piece of fabric I would tgrow away at one point, where my OCD had just appeared. Happy to hear that you're better now that you've moved back to the suburbs! The shoes part has a rational basis in terms of general dirt and in many cultures, including mine, we leave the shoes near the door and wear slippers inside, maybe that could be helpful. It's also easier and quicker to clean the floors. Same goes for outside clothes on the bed for instance.

@Anonymous22 If I used any public transport (which I’m way too scared to at this point) even if I didn’t physically touch anything (like standing on the subway) I had to put all clothes directly into the washer, clean all belongings I’d brought with soap or hand sanitizer (phone, keys, ID cards, etc.) and then shower. I couldn’t touch anything in my home or touch any of those objects to anything in the home before doing all this or they would also become dirty. I’d make my boyfriend do the same too if he took the subway or train. That’s also how I’d act coming home from anywhere I’d needed to use a public bathroom but now I’m also way too scared for that and just make my boyfriend do it if he comes back from somewhere where he used a public bathroom. Up until recently there were a few public places I’d be able to go and not need to shower (if I didn’t unexpectedly come into contact with something dirty, in which case I’d follow the above “I’m dirty” subway/public bathroom protocol lol) like the store or class or maybe a restaurant, I’d just have to change, but now I haven’t been to a public space in months and I’d definitely wanna shower after all of them. I decided to take a leave of absence from school for treatment because things kept happening in class that would make me have to follow the “I’m dirty” protocol, like gum being under the desk I sat at, someone who used the bathroom bumping into me, my skirt blowing into the outside of my car on the way in, etc. Having to come home everyday and spend hours showering, cleaning all my school supplies, and the interior of my car was too much (especially on top of trying to do my school work). I broke my laptop from spraying it with disinfectant. We leave shoes at the door in my house but sometimes I still feel like the contamination spreads across the whole floor for various reasons, like someone stepping on a spot their outside shoes were after taking them off and walking around the rest of the house. I used to think the floor/ground/shoes here at my house in the suburbs was clean and that all that stuff in the city was dirty but now since I’ve been here a while and the ocd will just take hold of everything I feel like shoes/floors/streets are dirty here in the suburbs now. I wear socks and slippers throughout the day and even though I do that and never leave the house I still feel the need to clean my feet with hand sanitizer before getting into bed. If anything touches the floor in my house I have to clean it. Every night I’m so scared of my blankets drooping off the bed and touching the floor. This was a lot sorry but when ocd has been this bad for this long it’s so hard to condense lol there’s just so many triggers.

@Anonymous I understand. I hope it wasn't too heavy and exhausting to write. I understand the shoes' thing better. I had a pretty similar thing. And it's reminding me of a lot. Also destroyed a couple of electronics and my glasses with disinfectants. Thanks a lot for sharing 🤍

I'm sorry you've been having such a hard time with covid and I hope your father is better now and had a full recovery

@Anonymous22 tysm! he has now, this was a good few months ago. it was a big scare but i’m waiting for therapists to get back to me now

@vanitas I hope you'll be able to start working on it soon 🙏