- Username
- Ellie H
- Date posted
- 6y ago
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
thank you so much
Try to accept the thoughts
thank you. do you know any way I can live my life without always thinking about my hands being clean?
@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.
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?
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?
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.
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
Thank you so much. This really helped. I’ll try this
My ocd has randomly become so bad this past week that i cant even get dressed. I constantly feel like i have bugs on me, i have started to hit myself when i get frustrated. Its never been so bad and i have no idea what to do. Every second im on edge i cant relax. Does anyone experience this or have any advice?
Hi everyone. First time here. I suffer from Contamination OCD. I have a good support group in friends, family, and my boyfriend, but I have not met anyone else with OCD and I needed to reach out to others to find help. I first got OCD when I was 17 (I am now 33) and was able to go into remission, but COVID brought it back. I was struggling at work (which was outside with the public). I found a therapist and she wrote me a doctor’s note suggesting I be allowed to work from home. My work was not accommodating at all and only offered me FMLA leave, so I took it as my only option and eventually got on Short Term Disability. The whole process took forever and was incredibly stressful. My leave was supposed to be a time of healing and it just made my OCD symptoms worse. My employer basically treated me as though I was trying to get out of work and proved to me that though they talk about the importance of mental health, they don’t take mental health seriously. I ended up having to leave my job “involuntarily due to health reasons” as they would not grant an extension nor let me return with any restrictions/accommodations. My therapist seemed good at first, but it became clear that she wasn’t really helping me. She would often use our sessions to vent about the insurance company and in one session, she basically called me a hopeless case and kept saying “I don’t know. I am concerned. I don’t know how you are going to be able to function” and threw out the word hospitalization, though she did backtrack on that one. I struggle everyday. I am worried that something from outside of the home touched something clean and is now contaminated. I need help working through this. I am constantly looking for reassurance, question if things are clean, wash my hands, use too many disinfectant wipes, and take showers upwards of 50-60 mins. I feel like my mind is being taken over by my OCD, I’m losing time, and it’s straining my relationship. For anyone who is struggling with contamination OCD brought on by COVID - any tips? My therapist never gave me anything specific to work on with this - to help me focus on something else. I am in the process of finding another therapist, but until then - any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
My therapist is getting on top of the way I wash my hands. Its really challenging. I am struggling with bad contamination OCD. It really takes up so much brain space. I would love to hear from other people how their journey is going.
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