Anyone with contamination ocd struggle with the concept of the contamination spreading in a way that is impossible? For example, someone really dirty touches your stuff, you wipe it yet now you think all your bags contents and your clothes are fully contaminated. Same with seeing a really dirty scene, you think the airborn notion is enough to contaminate you just by seeing it and being around it. How do you manage to get away from these thoughts?

Yes this is the WORST part about contamination OCD for me. I struggle to get away from the idea of a kind of trail of germs that somehow ‘transfer’ from several objects ? the fear that if an object touches an object which may have been ‘contaminated’ by something else, the original object is therefore ‘contaminated’. I feel dirty as if I have touched the original source of contamination!

I have contamination OCD I think there's human fluids everywhere ?

I used to think that I would be contaminated by someone if I breathed the air that brushed by as they walked past me (odd wording lmao I’m sorry), I still kind of think this way, too. Also, if I feel like one part of my body is “dirty” it will spread to other parts of my body :\

Yes I feel like I can physically feel it

This is the one compulsive behavior I cannot ignore. But sometimes you just have to push through it until you forget

Aqi yes, if I see my triggers and walk by it then everything that day is contaminated. Yesterday I had an encounter with a legitimately gross person who has a contagious skin condition. This person touched my item and I wiped it but I can’t help but think everything from that day is still contaminated.

I definitely relate to having this train of thought! Happened today actually. One so thought contaminated object can make me believe everything in sight is contaminated. Sometimes I have to calm myself down so I can think straight. But it’ll still bother me.

how do you decontaminate things? because I can't, i have to throw everything out ...

Maddog you are right. It’s been 16 hours the anxious thoughts are still with me and I’m trying to push through and really struggling.

unfortunately i have to tell all of you that you are right. 'traces of humans' and 'dirt of any kind' are indeed everywhere; stuff (including cells and droplets of fluids) gets transported through the air via aerosols which can be suspended in the air for hours; as to walking through the air way of someone, yes, you will get covered in stuff, you will inhale it, and it will enter your body via mucosal tissue (eyes, nose, mouth). the thing is, your body has its defense cells everywhere, in your mouth, in your nose, in your lungs and even in the cornea of your eyes - exactly for this reason, to deal with how this world works. what you also mention is termed 'mental contamination', ie, contaminating things by thoughts alone (such as everything from that day).

Sometimes I end up throwing things out to make it out of sight out of mind. I feel really bad when I do this. I guess it depends on the item. Like clothes I usually feel can be washed. I tend to dislike harsh chemicals like bleach. So sometimes I use those scentivia Clorox wipes.