- Date posted
- 6y
- Date posted
- 6y
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
- 6y
thanks ... its really hard..
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- 6y
i really liked talking to you.. thanks a lot..
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- 6y
: ) I really liked talking to you too!! I'm happy if I could help at all!
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- 6y
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...
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- 6y
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!!
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- 6y
Let's keep sharing! There's not a ton of people with contamination OCD on here. Any tips will be great!
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- 6y
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
- 6y
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
- 6y
I go to a therapist here in Greece
- Date posted
- 6y
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?
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- 6y
The worst scenario brings the most anxiety. By being exposed to it you will get used to it and the anxiety will lesen
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- 6y
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
- 6y
How to get rid of gross feeling? If i resist, it stays with me for days
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- 6y
If i resist compulsion, the feeling stays with me for days...
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- 6y
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
- 6y
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
- 6y
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
- 6y
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
- 6y
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
- 6y
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
- 6y
Good for you!!! That's so great!! Remind yourself you are making ocd smaller and smaller! ?
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- 6y
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
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- 6y
I'm still confused about some cleaning/transmission facts but it has helped with some thoughts!
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- 6y
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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- 6y
Many times I am not sure about something that I am engaged in
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- 6y
And that's why I do a lot of checking
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- 6y
As a part of compulsion
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- 6y
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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- 6y
OCD loves doubts!!
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- 6y
I have a lot of doubts
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- 6y
Almost all the time
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- 6y
But after so many years with OCD I feel much more comfortable
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- 6y
With this disorder
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- 6y
@kent79 do you mean fighting it? Do you have ERP skills you use? If so could you share?
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- 6y
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
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- 6y
Resistance on obsessions doesn't help.
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- 6y
then what shud i do? plz guide me
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- 6y
On the contrary resistance on compulsions helps a lot
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- 6y
Create an internal dialogue and ask yourself what it will be happened if this feeling is true or is going to be increased
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- 6y
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
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- 6y
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..
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- 6y
i feel like i will make my whole house dirty
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- 6y
?
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- 6y
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...
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- 6y
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
- 6y
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...
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- 6y
OCD loves to come back with those ifs
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- 6y
how do you deal it everyday?
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- 6y
for me its all touchability issue... i will try to implement that its just ocd causing it..
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- 6y
Wow. I struggled with this very very same thought yesterday. I’m surprised it’s not just me
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- 6y
Meant to say ** harshi and doubts our ocd is very very similar
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- 6y
everyday i get just one or two ocd thoughs , big enough to change my day...?
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- 6y
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.
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- 6y
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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- 6y
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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- 6y
Ι know its difficult but when we make our effort it worth s
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- 6y
Although sometimes the result its not exactly what we we want
Related posts
- Date posted
- 20w
I’m so scared. Part of me feels ok and part of me feels like I need to clean everything off. Basically my sweater had a stain on it from food it was newly washed but I decided to throw it in the wash again. While throwing it in the laundry basket I noticed a specific type of clothing that scares me. I quickly put the sweater on top of the used laundry and left. My phone was in the living room and I’m pretty constantly scared it will get contaminated by laundry I’m not sure why but that fear started randomly. Anyway I had to walk past the living room to wash my hands in the kitchen because someone had to use the bathroom badly and was waiting for me to just throw my laundry in to go to the bathroom. Anyway I’m scared I went near my phone or contaminated it with my hands. I can’t remember the details fully either but I just remember walking straight to the kitchen but I don’t know. I’m really scared and I want to clean everything like my phone and everything it was near. The thing is my fear is real because used laundry is so gross. What do I do? When throwing clean laundry in a basket should you wash your hands? Do most people? Even if the article of clothing isn’t dirty? Because maybe my hands accidentally went near the actual gross laundry I don’t know
- Date posted
- 15w
So today I’m getting my car back from my grandparents bc it had no ac and they fixed it for me the day I gave them the car I was having ocd bc I touched a little tree air freshener no the air freshener itself but the outside of the wrapper and then I touched my steering wheel and I didn’t clean it before I gave it to them and I was having really bad ocd that day about it and now it’s coming back because I’m getting my car back today and I have a cat so I’m just always overthinking bc of her with the things that have chemicals on it common sense makes me feel stupid for feeling this when but I genuinely get overheated having to pick up this car today because I don’t wanna deal with it and it’s hair wash day and laundry day and I feel I should clean my steering wheel and ik I’m gonna have to wash my hands a million times and everything I touched after touching the steering wheel like my phone and the car handles and my front door handles. Should I just try and not do these things bc it’s common sense that doing all the this is necessary but I feel I need to I know I’m just needing reassurance I know I need to do nothing but I always stress about my cat and I go to the laundry mat to do my laundry so I don’t wanna be sitting there overthinking about my steering wheel bc I could of just simply wiped it down but I don’t wanna repeat the cycle of giving in to my ocd
- Date posted
- 14w
Also Im sorry for posting so much about this type of stuff I’m just genuinely terrified and don’t know what to do Ok so last night I (16M) made a mistake of watching some stuff and had a physical reaction and I have a huge fear of bodily fluids and them infecting things and getting people infected because I think that would basically be a crime and of course I was in bed when this happened and worse part is I was on my bare mattress since I washed my covers a week ago and didn’t put them onto my bed yet but they were sitting on my bed if that makes sense and so I decide to shower change clothes spray the part I was laying down on with Lysol and also my chair and I feel asleep thinking I would clean it my room in the morning and also use my deep cleaning rug machine in the other room because I was scared thay room was also infected. So I wake up and my mind is ringing with fear telling me everything is filthy and what really scared me the most was my little brother and I used to share a room and so he had like a pile of his clean clothes on his bed which was by my bed but separated by a dresser and our room is small my chair is in the middle of our two bed and so I was scared that his clothes are now infected and I was panicking so I decided to just get up start cleaning up in the other room in order to clean the rug and I also swept the floor so I could mop later and of course chaos ensued the machine to clean the rug wasn’t working for a good hour before I got it working and then I cleaned the rug and then finished sweeping and I was going to mop before of course I made the same mistake I did last night and now my brain things everything is infected again so I quickly go shower spray the shower with Clorox foam and Lysol on the shower handle and head and I was going to wash it all off later after it sat for a bit but and I sprayed the floor with some Clorox foam just incase someone went in there before I mopped the bathroom floor and wiped it up with a towel I start preparing the mop and yep of course something else happens the pipe in the bathroom I just showered on frayed and water was pouring everywhere I told my dad he stopped it and of course I had to take everything out of the cabinet put it on the bathroom counter but my dad out some stuff in the shower and of course I’m grossed out because I didn’t rinse the Clorox out of it so to me that stuff got dirty and my dad can’t fix the sink until tomorrow so everything in there is sitting in limbo and my dad also used the mop I was gonna use to mop the house to get the water up that was covering the bathroom floor. But I mopped anyway cleaned the floor in my room and the bathroom along with what I could get in the house. Afterwards I start cleaning my room more wiping down the chair with a Lysol wipe and the dresser separating out bed I started throwing slot of stuff away like cards, coins, mail it was cluttered anyway and I tired wiping everything down to clean it the dresser the tv controllers my phone and iPad stuff like that I put some of my coins in a back I out back onto my dresser after wiping them with a Lysol wipe or ATLEAST trying and I threw some of my brothers clothes into the laundry room because I was scared it was infected I moved some stuff out of my room because I’m honestly scared to go back in there because I don’t want to get dirty again. So now I’m lying in a different room typing this terrified I forgot to clean something which would put someone at risk and thinking of how I need to go back in my room to wash my bed covers and clean my mattress but I’m so stressed I have a headache and my laptop is broken I think so another thing on my plate and I’m spiraling and have no idea what to do
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