Ellie H
- Date posted
- 7y
CrawfishCrawfish
- Date posted
- 7y
Try to resist the urge to wash by increasing the amount of time you try to wash. Maybe resist the urge by a min then increase it. Or if you find yourself washing for 20 mins decrease it to 15
Ellie HEllie H
- Date posted
- 7y
thank you so much
Mjs110160Mjs110160
- Date posted
- 7y
Try to accept the thoughts
Ellie HEllie H
- Date posted
- 7y
thank you. do you know any way I can live my life without always thinking about my hands being clean?
PineapplePineapple
- Date posted
- 7y
@Ellie to be honest with you the only way is to accept that maybe your hands aren’t clean. I agree with Wes about gradually reducing the compulsion rather than just trying to stop doing it altogether because that is very difficult. The more you engage in the compulsion of washing your hands, the more it will reinforce your obsession that your hands aren’t clean and that your whole day will be ruined if you don’t wash your hands. Also the more you try to argue with the thoughts or try not to think them, ironically, the more they will appear.
Ellie HEllie H
- Date posted
- 7y
thank you so much but how do i accept the fact that my hands aren’t clean but I have to go through touching more stuff? Like let’s say I leave my hands dirty and then I go and touch something. I’ll feel like I’ll never want to touch that object again because I touched it when my hands were dirty. Any help with this?
CrawfishCrawfish
- Date posted
- 7y
What is the bottom line for your fear of contamination? Fear of being dirty/ hurting a loved one because it’s contaminated/ or making yourself sick?
Ellie HEllie H
- Date posted
- 7y
I do fear of being dirty and I worry that I will just spread germs everywhere. If I touch an object while my hands are dirty, I will be afraid to touch that object again. For example let’s say I get something dirty in my hair, I will feel like I can’t touch my hair again cause it’s dirty and I’ll feel like I’ll have to wash my hands if I touch it.
CrawfishCrawfish
- Date posted
- 7y
Ok so with this when you feel like your hands are dirty and have touched something and not wanting to touch that object, you should be forcing yourself to touch the object in a normal way. Then once you have done this task use normal self talk like: you’re fine it’s your ocd. Then wait as long as you can and then wash hands. But increase amount of time not washing and decreas amount of time washing
Ellie HEllie H
- Date posted
- 7y
Thank you so much. This really helped. I’ll try this
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Holl1
- Date posted
- 24w
OCD
I’ve tried living in the uncertainty today & kept myself busy but I can’t shake this feeling that I’m about to lose control & act on my thoughts. I keep feeling like I need to check in to see how I feel & keep my self safe & when I’m near my trigger it feels like I’m being pulled into doing it & feels like I want to but I’m not using compulsions. My thoughts feel like my own & feeling like I’ll be like this forever. Can someone relate or give advice 😩
Anonymous
- Date posted
- 23w
Tw/ Contamination ocd
Hello, i have very severe contamination ocd, and as i am writing this i feel my hands are dirty lol, but anyways i wanted to know if there’s anyone specialised in Contamination ocd? No matter what type because i really need help and i looked up things but it doesn’t help please!!
bun <3
- Date posted
- 23w
everything around me feels contaminated :((
sorry this is super long i just wanna know if anyone else has been thru something similar bc i feel super alone 🩷 i have super bad contamination ocd. it was bad already but my house was like my safe space until a few months ago someone brought something into my house that i considered ‘contaminated’. and so then i felt like that part of the house was contaminated, then it spread to everything outside my room (since family is moving around touching stuff) and then somehow i got convinced everything in my room except my bed is contaminated and i need to wash my hands after touching it. in my mind its like the contamination just infinitely spreads to things after the tiniest bit of touch. idek what im afraid of anymore or even what the original thing was but i can’t let it go. when i have to wash off contamination i have to wash at least 4 times or until it feels right, or sometimes take rlly long showers and wipe down all my stuff. i even throw away food and clothes or just whole items sometimes because they feel so contaminated i don’t want them in my space. i can’t be super near people or have anyone touch me, and i also can’t bring anything new into my room since it had to go through the entry of my house which feels contaminated. i feel like all i do is lay in bed and then wash my hands and do compulsions so i can go eat or do other stuff around the house. also i never go out because i’m bc people outside make me feel dirty, and i hate thinking about how many people have touched stuff in stores or in public and stuff. so im just in my room worrying all day. i feel so trapped and the contamination/avoiding it is all i think about anymore i barely have time for anything else and im never present when i talk to people because im worrying about if i accidentally got contaminated. im starting erp next week and knowing that im going to have to expose myself to things is really freaking me out. does anyone else have this kind of ocd ? im exhaustedddd 🥲🥲💔
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