- Date posted
- 5y ago
- Date posted
- 5y ago
I've been dealing with contamination OCD for a long time now so I've used different techniques at different times that helped it become more manageable. But I only recently started viewing my concerns about infection as "intrusive thoughts". Which before I wasn't. I was thinking I had to do everything I could to protect myself and others from disease. Thinking of them as intrusive thoughts has started to help me view them differently and start to figure out which ones are going overboard. I also have to accept some of the anxiety and uncertainty that comes with cleaning less. I gave myself some rules to begin living by. One is that I have to realize it's ok to say I'm not cleaning this much even if there are germs out there. And two I can't get rid of every single germ and I can't be scared of the small amounts. This one is tricky because my ocd really likes to question how small of an amount is enough for transmission so I try and generalize more. I'm still working on it all but for some reason realizing germ thoughts may be intrusive thoughts helped me try to respond to them differently.
- Date posted
- 5y ago
thanks ... its really hard..
- Date posted
- 5y ago
i really liked talking to you.. thanks a lot..
- Date posted
- 5y ago
: ) I really liked talking to you too!! I'm happy if I could help at all!
- Date posted
- 5y ago
today i was flushing the toilet and felt my tied up hairs touched seat... lol...got urge to take shower and hair wash... but m resisting the compulsion...
- Date posted
- 5y ago
Harshi and doubts are ocd are sooo similar. Harshi I too tie my hair when using public bathrooms. When I see something gross it makes me feel like it got allover me resulting in long showers. Unfortunately, I’m wait listed for therapy. Let know what is working for you. Best of luck!!
- Date posted
- 5y ago
Let's keep sharing! There's not a ton of people with contamination OCD on here. Any tips will be great!
- Date posted
- 5y ago
I like this idea. Sharing our progress and tips will help. Doubts I like ur comment on reframing intrusive thoughts to be just that, intrusive thoughts. I will try it though it’s not very easy
- Date posted
- 5y ago
I had this specific fear for a while. I got scared I forgot to put soap in. I started writing down with times exactly when I put the laundry in when I put the soap in etc. I stopped eventually.
- Date posted
- 5y ago
I go to a therapist here in Greece
- Date posted
- 5y ago
I am exposed to fears, to my thoughts, what ever I am afraid of gradually. The rule is do what you want to avoid. Also when we have intrusive thoughts we feel excessively anxious. Then we have to ask ourselves what can be happened if this intrusive thought come true?
- Date posted
- 5y ago
The worst scenario brings the most anxiety. By being exposed to it you will get used to it and the anxiety will lesen
- Date posted
- 5y ago
Thanks for sharing Kent! I'm doing ERP as well I just have a hard time getting used to the idea of exposing myself to certain germs, really one in particular. I understand if avoiding contact with it is illogical but there would be times when it is logical to avoid contact and I have a really difficult time finding the difference between these.
- Date posted
- 5y ago
How to get rid of gross feeling? If i resist, it stays with me for days
- Date posted
- 5y ago
If i resist compulsion, the feeling stays with me for days...
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- 5y ago
How long have you been dealing with this harshi? If your compulsions are responding to the gross feeling as the trigger I could see this being constant or growing fast. How many compulsions do you go through until it feels right?
- Date posted
- 5y ago
its almost 1 year now...i fix one thing, it gets replaced by something else. just started ERP.. for washer issue, it happened first time today and i wached the washer video, lid can only get unlocked when done.. so i was fine with it...
- Date posted
- 5y ago
today again i went to office restroom, my hairs tied.. still i felt what if my hairs got touched to seat while putting papers on it..this particular feeling started from yesterday.. for me one feeling goes after fighting and other comes.. yesterday i ended up taking shower when i reached home and washed my hair too...but i feel for my hairs to touch on seat, i really need to sit on my knees or be in squat position... just my bending little bit, its impossible i guess
- Date posted
- 5y ago
Even though the washer issue is over, ocd will keep coming up with ways for contamination to occur or possibly occur. With contamination I realized that the broader issues need to be worked on because going through the hierarchy will only help you manage it better but it won't help when ocd creates new scenarios. Right now it sounds like you're feeling better about one fear because you were able to rationalize to yourself that it wasn't a cause for contamination. But in life there's always going to be opportunities for contamination so I think it's good to decide how to handle germs in general sense. (I'm working on this now too)
- Date posted
- 5y ago
I think a good one for you especially because you're not concerned with actual diseases is to force yourself to only shower once a day or every day as you normally would for basic hygiene and not because of the toilet. Other times when you're not sure if something happened you take you best memory of events and sit with the uncertainty.
- Date posted
- 5y ago
I know, that's the ocd intrusive thought coming in. As you do this you anxiety will spike but it will get easier and the anxiety will diminish. Think about how much time and energy you'll get back! It's helpful to start identifying these thoughts as ocd then it gives you more motivation to resist the compulsion.
- Date posted
- 5y ago
Good for you!!! That's so great!! Remind yourself you are making ocd smaller and smaller! ?
- Date posted
- 5y ago
It is hard! For me every germ thought that came in I took seriously and would get hung up on how to handle them but when I realized maybe some of them were just intrusive thoughts I started to take them less seriously
- Date posted
- 5y ago
I'm still confused about some cleaning/transmission facts but it has helped with some thoughts!
- Date posted
- 5y ago
got this quote..” you dont hv to learn how to control your thoughts,you just have to stop letting them control you”... lets try our best...
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- 5y ago
Many times I am not sure about something that I am engaged in
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- 5y ago
And that's why I do a lot of checking
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- 5y ago
As a part of compulsion
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- 5y ago
I remember i started the machine... clothes were wet when i moved to drier. I feel what if machine was not done when i moved to drier. my machine gets locked while washing. I think it gets unlocked when its done but m not sure
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- 5y ago
OCD loves doubts!!
- Date posted
- 5y ago
I have a lot of doubts
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- 5y ago
Almost all the time
- Date posted
- 5y ago
But after so many years with OCD I feel much more comfortable
- Date posted
- 5y ago
With this disorder
- Date posted
- 5y ago
@kent79 do you mean fighting it? Do you have ERP skills you use? If so could you share?
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- 5y ago
Ι have problems with germs too but if for a while you leave your hands unwashed , the most uncomfortable you feel the best result you will have
- Date posted
- 5y ago
Resistance on obsessions doesn't help.
- Date posted
- 5y ago
then what shud i do? plz guide me
- Date posted
- 5y ago
On the contrary resistance on compulsions helps a lot
- Date posted
- 5y ago
Create an internal dialogue and ask yourself what it will be happened if this feeling is true or is going to be increased
- Date posted
- 5y ago
The feeling that you have described can not pass so soon. our aim is to decrease the intensity of this feeling not to disappear it in one day. Unfortunately this is not feasible
- Date posted
- 5y ago
yes... you are right.. but i try to fight one by one... thats what i can think off at one moment.. right now m trying to rationalize my office restroom issue.. plz help me with pointers if possible... I still don’t know how to resolve it in broader way..
- Date posted
- 5y ago
i feel like i will make my whole house dirty
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- 5y ago
?
- Date posted
- 5y ago
yes.. I am trying to do so.. in my erp session, I was told to find proofs for and against the event? I am trying to collect that.. that too so stupid that my hair touched back side of seat...
- Date posted
- 5y ago
You could measure with a ruler how far your hair would be from the toilet when you bent over to put the papers down. ocd likes to come back with a lot what ifs to make impossible scenarios seem possible. Especially when the scenario isn't clear. How come you're not worried about the papers touching the toilet?
- Date posted
- 5y ago
actually you are right, my ass also touched the seat, paper was just in front part, but not worried abt that.. why hairs give this obession, i feel hairs are neutral so i wont feel it.. i know its impossible to touch it... i make my own video sometime with chair just to see what could actually happen.. if it was my house.. i would hv not worried.. dont get anxiety that time...but in office... i get it..i also tried to bend that much on bed while standing and making my hairs touch it... i almost fall on bed...so i hv so many proofs but that impossible if...
- Date posted
- 5y ago
OCD loves to come back with those ifs
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- 5y ago
how do you deal it everyday?
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- 5y ago
for me its all touchability issue... i will try to implement that its just ocd causing it..
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- 5y ago
Wow. I struggled with this very very same thought yesterday. I’m surprised it’s not just me
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- 5y ago
Meant to say ** harshi and doubts our ocd is very very similar
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- 5y ago
everyday i get just one or two ocd thoughs , big enough to change my day...?
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- 5y ago
I really like that quote!! Me too! Sometimes one thought or obsession will take over. There are times when things are going good all day and then boom a thought or dirty object that just takes over.
- Date posted
- 5y ago
Guys. I’m getting on an airplane tomorrow and my biggest fear. Airplane bathrooms ugh!! Any tips here? Usually I just use purell when I get back to my seat
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- 5y ago
Logically you know you can't get anything from the bathroom although it feels gross! Wash hands at the sink one time for one happy birthday song! Good luck!!
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- 5y ago
Ι know its difficult but when we make our effort it worth s
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- 5y ago
Although sometimes the result its not exactly what we we want
Related posts
- Date posted
- 25w ago
I've gotten diagnosed with OCD and I'm in therapy. But I'm worried that I don't have OCD/that I got misdiagnosed. And recently I'm worried that I've just gotten myself into a habit of thinking of dirty minded or just plain old terrible things after I see/hear certain things because I feel like I need to prove I have OCD or else I'm faking(sometimes this goes away). Or that I'm just mimicking symptoms of ocd to cope with real problems I may have and that im just really deep into denial. I don't know...I'm just so tired. I mean, what if I really am what I think I am and this is my brains only way of coping? I don't even really feel anything towards most of the thoughts anymore either I just know they go against my values and I don't want them. I don't know if that's because I'm so mentally exhausted, I just don't care, or that the thoughts are true and I'm comfortable with them.
- Date posted
- 18w ago
I am starting to come to grips with intrusive thoughts, reading how your brain will think of the worst thing / or make you think of something that really distresses you. BUT, I’ve got something I need to get off my chest, not looking for reassurance but just to know I’m not alone I guess? I remember one time, I saw a girl I follow on Instagram go on a marathon, and then went straight out for dinner after without showering and I had the passing thought of, gosh she must smell, even worse, she must smell down there. That has got to be the worst intrusive thought EVER, and because it affected me so much, I have the urge to think of this horrible horrible thought most times I look at people. Wondering if they smell!!!! It’s disgusting!!!! :( I don’t know if this is because I also have contamination ocd and I do obsess about feeling and being clean.
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- Date posted
- 14w ago
So, if I'm retelling a story or relaying information to someone, after I'm done speaking, my brain will send me thoughts like, "What if you lied? You might have told the story wrong! You're lying!" I've started second-guessing myself, even when I know I'm not lying or telling the story wrong😭 This has also bled into twisting my intentions behind certain actions... For example, the other day, I'd been babysitting my younger brothers. I'd gone to use the restroom and thought, "What if the door isn't locked or closed all the way?" Because this has happened once in the past. Turns out, it didn't lock correctly, and one of my little brothers almost walked in on me, but luckily, I shut the door in time, and we laughed it off. But then, I kept getting thoughts like, "You knew that would happen, and you didn't double-check! You wanted that to happen and for him to walk in!" :( I know this isn't true, but it's so annoying! Has anyone dealt with this? If you have, do you have any advice on how to deal with these thoughts?
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