- Username
- T7
- Date posted
- 5y ago
Keep posting and share your thoughts and feelings.
Also will look into taking the 90 minute interview with professional.
Sounds like pretty classic OCD behavior to me! Treatment for OCD is pretty standard across all themes: CBT, ERP therapy, and mindfulness training. You can learn more here: https://ocdla.com/cognitivebehavioraltherapy Since you’re just figuring this out, I’d also recommend grabbing a book on OCD. There are tons out there to choose from but here are some recommendations: https://ocdla.com/ocdreadings Welcome to the community!
You are not alone. All of those themes trouble me as well...
I have EXACTLY the same contamination issues you described, also showering till feels alright and perfectionism that I now getting less. Yes, sounds like you have mild OCD. There are a couple apps or websites you can do a survey to see how you rate (kinda).
I think you might like this book – "The Complete Guide to Overcoming OCD: (ebook bundle)" by David Veale, Rob Willson. Just $5.
Have I got OCD? Only a trained health professional can diagnose you as suffering from OCD. The following is a screening questionnaire from the International Council on OCD. 1 Do you wash or clean a lot? 2 Do you check things a lot? 3 Is there any thought that keeps bothering you that you would like to get rid of but can’t? 4 Do your activities take a long time to finish? 5 Are you concerned with orderliness or symmetry? If you answered yes to one or more of these questions and it causes either significant distress and/or it interferes in your ability to work or study or your role as a homemaker, or in your social or family life or in relationships, then there is a significant chance that you have OCD. This test can be a bit over-sensitive to diagnosing OCD, so if you think you might have OCD, it is best to talk to a health professional and get appropriate help.
Thank you so much for your comment. Extremely helpful. Will definitely look into the book you recommended.
Here are some key ways in which you can lessen your OCD and improve your life. 1 Imagine how you would like to be different, in terms of how you feel and behave. Picture yourself being this way in your mind’s eye. 2 List all of your hopes, dreams and aspirations. Imagine how being utterly free from OCD would help you towards them. 3 Develop a mental image that represents your OCD when it is trying to force you to carry out a mental or behavioural ritual –a bully, a demon, a computer virus, Nazi propaganda on a radio or choose your own mental image. 4 Develop a mental image that represents defeating your OCD. 5 Find inspiration for overcoming adversity –choose a role model or metaphor that helps you to stick with progress and resist the urges to check, wash, seek reassurance, review or analyse in your mind. 6 Identify someone who you can share (and celebrate) your progress with. Help them to see that you need cheering on in your progress, NOT reassurance or debates over safety etc! 7 List all of the strategies that you employ in your mind and in your behaviour that are maintaining your OCD. View these like bad habits you are going to train yourself out of and do not respond to such urges by giving yourself reassurance or try to suppress such thoughts and urges. 8 Imagine that you have a twin, who is the same as you in every respect, but is free from OCD, and use them as your guide in changing your behaviour. 9 Test out treating your problem ‘as if’it’s a problem of worrying too much or being too cautious. The trick is to do this even though you’re not 100 per cent sure. Remember that looking for certainty is very much the problem, not the solution. 10 Find a metaphor for treating intrusive thoughts as events just passing through your mind. Traffic passing in the street or leaves on a river are just a couple of examples. The trick is to allow your mind to take care of itself, without interfering with or responding to the intrusive thoughts. The flow of thoughts in your mind should be as much left to its own devices as the blood flowing through your veins. 11 Deliberately practice refocusing your attention on to the things you can see, hear, smell and feel in the ‘real’outside world, here and now. 12 NORMALIZE your doubts, images, thoughts and impulses. This means fully accepting that your intrusive thoughts, images and doubts are normal and part of being human. 13 Embrace each time you have an intrusive doubt, image, thought or impulse as an opportunity to accept them willingly into your mind. Think of it as keeping your friends close and your enemies closer! 14 Practice assuming the best. OCD has a habit of knocking your rose-tinted spectacles off so get back to normal by assuming the best rather than the worst. 15 Listen to music that helps you to get into the frame of mind to drive your true values and aspirations straight through OCD and out the other side. 16 Focus on getting better, more than feeling better. Measure your progress in terms of your levels of distress and ability to function across the course of a couple of weeks. 17 ‘OCD loves a vacuum!’As you recover, fill the gaps in your life that your OCD might leave behind with hobbies, exercise, education, friendships, deepening relationships with loved ones or furthering your career. There’s evidence that doing so will help you keep OCD out of your life.
https://youtu.be/pJp9vlp84Wk Check out these YouTube videos.
Thanks for your comment! The information you provided is greatly appreciated and will not be wasted.
Over the last two or three years I experienced many life changing events. First, I graduated college after taking 11 years to complete my degree due to having dyslexia and processing and developmental delays. Second, I finally garnered the confidence to get my driver's license in my early thirties and eventually bought my own and my first car. Third, I was lucky enough to have enough money saved up to buy my first home. It had not been long before my family noticed that I was taking longer in the shower than maybe I intended. I found myself washing my body and hair four times each and still not feeling clean. This evolved to being ultra sensitive to smells and germs regardless of if they were on my body or not. I wash my hands till they are red and raw. I have avoided going outside or even going to my house and garage. On top of that, if anyone mentions me needing to go outside, whether in my car or not, I get this stinging and tingling feeling all over my body that feels like my skin is burning or on fire. After a rough conversation with my mom, I now can get a hold of it and only feel clean if I run through a checklist of convincing myself that my hair, body, hands, and feet are all clean after a shower and before I get into bed at night. I have never done this before in my life but I feel like its gotten to the point that I have an anxiety attack and my skin feels like it is burning from the inside if I think about even just sitting outside with my dog. I have never been diagnosed or even treated for OCD, but I'm hoping through an OCD therapist, I can get the help I need.
I’ve always had a feeling of having OCD but I’ve never been sure. I’m a teenager, and I’m hoping people on this app can help me try to figure out if I have OCD or I’m just crazy. Starting off with these terrible thoughts I have all the time. Someone can come home late and I immediately think they got into a car wreck, and check my phone for recent car crashes and other thing etc. etc. number 2, I always have intrusive thoughts, terrible ones ever since I was a kid I can’t control. I immediately feel like thinking these will lead god to hate me, and that he made an imperfection on me. And every time I try to hide these thoughts away, like right now they’re coming out I just can’t stop thinking of them and it’s so hard to do anything. Just thoughts like, “you hate your mom” or, “you hate god” and stuff that scares me like spiders. It’s hard to do anything with these thoughts. I’m also a major perfectionist, if anything is out of order I freak out. Yes, my room is messy. But I feel a sense of incompleteness and anxiety if I don’t empty the dishwasher, or don’t clean dirty dishes around the sink. These are recent and I feel like God will punish me for committing the sin of laziness. I also have a thing with the number 5, when I touch something it needs to be 5 times and if it’s not 5 times I freak out. I’m also terrified of getting sick, every time my friend is sick I freak out and don’t get near them the entire day, constantly washing my hands. Writing this is triggering a lot of my terrible thoughts and I don’t want to continue writing. Please let me know your thoughts, mental illness runs in my family but my mom is constantly telling me there’s nothing wrong with me. Maybe she’s right.
Hi, I’m Cede. I am 15 years old and I’m greatly concerned if I have OCD. I do so many things that relate to others with OCD, and find myself constantly matching symptoms of it. But I feel like if I bring this up to my mother she will tell me I’m making it all up in my head, or say something stupid like “it’s because of that darn phone” I was hoping to find people here who do have OCD and see what their thoughts are. And hopefully find my answer. These things have been happening as long as I can remember. They started out as a few things but now they’re building and getting worse. Stuff I do that I believe is OCD related: -When I was younger and believed in good and praying, I would have to triple check I prayed for all my family and friends. Or I thought they would die. I would panic every night. (Age 4-9?) -When praying I would also pray that specific things wouldn’t happen to me. Ex: “dear god, please don’t let me get kidnapped tomorrow” -I got into a car crash when I was younger while I was asleep, ever ever since then I wouldn’t allow myself to fall asleep because I thought me sleeping caused us to crash -I would (still do) see the spray paint on cement and imagine if the line extended. I would have to avoid those spots or I’d feel panicked or think a bad thing was soon to come -I skip count by 2’s, 5’s, and 10’s when anxious, or something like it. -I have to hold my breath while crossing the street because I think something bad will happen if I breathe before I’m across -I have to run half way across a street before a certain light changes otherwise I’m convinced Doom is released upon me -I will randomly feel dirty in my body. Typically my hands. I will wash and wash them till the “bad” is gone. -I have the habit of over showering because I feel like when I sleep “bad” is layered all over me and showering will get it off -when making a timer for something it needs to only be “good” numbers (minutes) with a “good”number for the seconds. Ex: 11 min and 44 seconds -Numbers, Colors, Letters, and shapes all are split into feeling “good” or “bad” ex: 6 is very bad. It’s like a dirty feeling almost -I refuse to go into stores that feel “bad” or “dirty”. Like the AIR feels dirty to me, even if I know it’s clean -If I push my bedroom door shut before it closes I need to run to a carpet and stand on only my right leg or get to my stairs or I feel like something bad will happen -I will rewrite a letter or something till it feels it’s done “just right” -when walking on tiles I can’t step on lines. But also I don’t like how they’re spaced. My right foot is always stepping on one part of them and my left on another. It’s not fairly balanced. And that causes me to rewalk or step there again. And it causes me to panic and sometimes tear up. -if I only get one hand wet I need to get the other just as wet before drying them off or I can’t leave the place I’m in. -if one nail breaks on one hand ex:pointer on right, I need to cut the other one down to that length as well. Or I can’t function -when I’m sick I convince myself I’m going to die in my sleep (I’m literally sick rn and refusing to go to bed because I’m convinced my family will find me dead) -I have asthma and I sometimes think it gets so bad I’ll want to write “I love you” notes to my family because I’m going to die from not breathing in my sleep -I think I forgot something so I have to check it a few times to make sure I have it or done something -I won’t take medication unless my mother gets it for me, because I think I’ll accidentally over dose. And sometimes I’ll be worried to take it even from her (Tw for these because they’re intrusive thoughts) -I’ll be looking at my dog or a little kid and have the most vivid and violent visions of them. Ex: I will see myself bashing my dogs brain with my foot -I will have intrusive thoughts if me specializing myself to older adults, even family. Like guys. I don’t even want to give an example because it’s disgusting.. -I’ll get intrusive thoughts of me unaliving myself and writing su’cide letters to people -I will get an intrusive thought of me taking too much medication There’s still so much, but I’m sick and tired. If anyone who has OCD can let me know if it sounds like I have it please tell me. I want to figure this out. Have a good day! -Cd
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