I am very new to dealing with my OCD. I mentioned in an earlier topic that there is a word that bothers me. If it is said around me I have to shower and wash all my clothes. And those clothes are forever contaminated. It started with one shirt and since I started with that it has grown to more and more things being contaminated. What would my at home treatment for this be? What would the exposure be? The word I guess but how do I work on it and not feel like all my clothes are ruined?

Basically, it’s like there are “word germs”. I know this is not true but it’s how it feels. And now I worry about even transferring those germs on to other people.

Thank you!!! :)

I feel contaminated by certain words too! Also numbers and colors... You can expose yourself to "contaminated" clothes first, or the word, or both. When you first start doing exposures, it helps to start with smaller triggers, and build your tolerance to more intense triggers. I've done exposures on exactly this type of compulsion, and it works, you WILL regain your freedom.

Thank you so much for sharing! So you figure to start I should wear the contaminated clothes? Then work on exposure to the word? Part of the issues I’ve had in the past is feeling strong enough to wear the clothes and then my OCD senses strength and goes, if you wear those that awful thing will happen. Sometimes I am strong, sometimes I cave.

I think you might like this book – "The Complete Guide to Overcoming OCD: (ebook bundle)" by David Veale, Rob Willson.

this is what i would do: expose yourself to the word or have it said to you in the morning but and then wear those same clothes for the rest of the day. you could also take some of your most worn clothes/favorite clothes, wear them while being exposed to the word, and then challenge yourself to see those clothes again. if you love wearing that one sweatshirt or shirt, wear it!! do not let a silly word define what you do or do not wear. that will show the OCD that it doesn’t control you or your actions and that you’re stronger than your thoughts. you got this!!!

If it were, yes I would start with wearing something you miss wearing but feel is contaminated, like sophiaa said. You get something tangible back that OCD took from you, and that will help motivate you too keep going. If it were me, just exposing myself to the word, and then doing no compulsions in response, would be more difficult, because I have several compulsions I can do in response to a trigger. You eventually want to not respond to the word at all, but from experience, I think you go for the clothes first.

Loop tapes One option for intrusive thoughts that are significantly anxiety-provoking is to do exposure with a cassette loop tape (of the kind normally used in old telephone answering machines.) You would first record on the loop tape the content of the intrusive thought (e.g. Judith recorded her intrusive thoughts about her grandchildren dying: ‘Rosa and Dheeresh have gone under a bus’). It is very important that you record only the thoughts that are anxiety-provoking and not your response, that is, any mental rituals or neutralizing (in this example Judith would normally say to herself: ‘It’s me going under the bus’to ‘save’her grandchildren by neutralizing the thought which she had to resist). You would then listen with a pair of headphones to the recorded thoughts repeatedly on the loop tape without responding (e.g. with mental rituals or neutralizing) until the anxiety has subsided. You would monitor the effect of the exposure over time and then, if the anxiety is decreasing, repeat it at least daily until you’re no longer anxious about the intrusive thoughts. If, however, your intrusive thoughts and ideas: •   do not generate a high level of anxiety, or •   are not apparently linked to any mental rituals or neutralizing, or •   if they are associated with another emotion such as feeling depressed, ashamed, angry or guilty, then professional advice is required as exposure may not be helpful (and could even be counterproductive). Here it may be more helpful not to respond to the intrusive thoughts in any manner; just to acknowledge the thoughts, to stop comparing or rating yourself, and to refocus your attention externally on the environment and other practical tasks (such as really listening to someone and talking to them). It is usually helpful to make intrusive thoughts and images as concrete as possible. Examples include trying to draw or paint an intrusive image that is disturbing you (e.g. someone with an intrusive image of crucifying his children set about making a large crucifix in the garden with his children as part of the Easter celebrations). Intrusive thoughts and fears about being homosexual might require you to go and have a drink in a gay bar, or buy homosexual porn; if you have thoughts about the devil you might use a ouija board, watch the The Exorcist, and plaster the number 666 over your walls. Of course, we don’t want to offend anyone’s cultural beliefs; but sometimes when you’re fighting OCD, you have to bring in the big guns.

you could also repeat the word or have it written in certain places or on things you see often. the point is to basically expose yourself to the word so much that it starts to get boring. then your brain won’t respond to this word as danger, but finally realize that it really is only a word. :)

Thank you all so much for you help! I wanted to give a bit more information and any suggestions would be appreciated!!! When I hear/read this word I have severe anxiety because it is linked to when I had no idea what was going on with me (ocd) so the intrusive thoughts were like, what is wrong with me? Am I some monster, etc. So this word reminds me of those times when I wondered what it meant about me. So now, when I hear it I get severe anxiety, have to wash my clothes and have a shower. It has gotten worse now, to the point wheee everything I touch before I shower is contaminated. If I don’t shower and I go to sleep the bed is now contaminated, door handles, taps, etc. With “word germs”. And also with incomes worry that I am contaminating other people. So obviously I should not wash my clothes, not shower, not avoid touching things so I don’t contaminated them, etc. But as you all know, that’s VERY difficult. And I know it’s just a word and word germs don’t exist but the compulsion to do the ritual is huge. I know you all get it. But if you have any other tips on how to tackle this in the best way I would love to hear it. You have already given me some suggestions and I am going to work on them. Thank you!!!!