My OCD/ Germaphobia has just been ridiculous lately. I cleaned the handle to my fridge- but I still don’t want to touch it??? What do u guys do or what do u suggest? I’ve just been stressed, anxious, and my OCD/ Germaphobia has been on a ridiculous overdrive lately
What would be a step that you could realistically do right now? Maybe touch the handle for a second? Then try to stay in the present and not let your brain take over. Name all the blue or green things around you. A minute later you grab the handle fully with your hand for a few seconds. Again, stay present and use your senses. What do you see, what do you hear? What do you smell, etc. Then you open and close the fridge and rub your hands all over the handle. (Be sure not to wash your hands!) Then grab something from the fridge. Etc etc. You’d have to determine the steps for yourself as I’m not sure what your exact triggers and intrusive thoughts are. There is no way to do this without fear, unfortunately. But you can do this! Kick OCD in the face!
@hen7 Thank u for the advice and thoughts. That’s what’s been hard for me though- is I’m not brave enough (at least yet) to face the fear. To challenge myself.
@Anonymous Do you have experience with ERP? Because often the anticipation of doing something is worse than actually doing it and you need a bit of experience to discover that you actually are braver than you know. And the fear might dissipate pretty soon in some instances, too, and you go “huh that actually wasn’t so bad.” That’s my experience with ERP at least (not always but often it is).
@Anonymous I totally get your feelings though. I felt the same way.
@hen7 I haven’t tried it yet.
@Anonymous Have you tried opening it with the towel, like Anonymous suggested? Could be a good start.
@hen7 I probably will tomorrow. I feel like I need to recharge haha
@Anonymous Good luck! Feel free to post here about how it went!
@Anonymous You will get there eventually though. I have contamination ocd and I just recently started “cross-contaminating” things that are “safe” to me on purpose and accidentally and not wiping them off actually makes me feel so much better then when I used to wipe everything. I did that today with our porch door handle and just thought “it’s ok, it won’t actually cause any harm” and I didn’t wipe it or wash my hands after touching it. Not caring what you touch after you’ve been scared of it for months is actually such a freeing feeling, once you start it makes you want to start living like you used to (free of the ocd) I’m not sure if you’ve always had contamination ocd, but mine is relatively new to me within the past 6 months
@Madison2459 Wow that’s amazing. Thanks a ton.
And plus the stuff inside- I’m really hesitating about touching it. I had cups of water and a cup of iced coffee in there, and I’m hesitating to either drink them or not 🙄🙄
I use a paper towel to open the fridge door
@Anonymous I’ve been thinking of doing that. Good idea
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@Seekingfreedom Yes I would advise against starting new compulsions. The further you go the more you have to backtrack on again.
Does anyone have any tips on how to handle contamination OCD?
I obsess constantly about my hands being dirty and feel like I can actually see the germs and bacteria crawling all over my hands if I can’t wash them as soon as I touch something. It’s really embarrassing since people in my life have noticed this “weird” behavior but it’s a huge problem for me and I don’t know how to make the obsessive thoughts stop.
(long read ahead, sorry lol) I’ve struggled with ocd for as far back as I can remember. I find that it gets worse with stress, and recently I’ve really been struggling with the contamination aspect of my ocd. I’m worried about it becoming unmanageable and negatively affecting my relationship with my partner. I’ve been living with my boyfriend since January (got kicked out of my house a week after I turned 18, it’s for the better though my house is toxic as hell) and I love living with him, but him and his family aren’t as concerned with cleaning as I am used to. My boyfriend and I have been together going on 2 years and there’s been many times throughout our relationship that his struggle with depression severely impacted his ability to keep up with cleaning his room. This is something I completely understand because I’ve struggled with it too so i’ve often helped him clean, and since i’ve moved in he’s done so much better at keeping up with cleaning (especially because he knows about my issues with clutter, mess, germs, etc.) He is really good at being accommodating towards my needs (not overly so, i’m aware that recovering includes accepting being uncomfortable), but it’s so hard for me to differentiate between what is the normal standard for cleanliness and hygiene and what’s excessive and unhealthy. I get so stressed out every single day over the thought of how dirty everything is. He has 3 cats that mainly stay in his room (he has a catio attached to his window/side of the house) and dogs which stay on the opposite side of the house and backyard, so there is fur everywhere constantly (i’m also allergic to cats but it’s not severe). I can’t stop thinking about how they are getting germs from their litter box all over everything. They also used to piss under his bed and in his closet when his room used to be a mess and it’s soaked into the floor so no matter what it stinks. It’s so hard to bring myself to walk around the house without slippers because my feet will get visibly dirty and my socks would get covered in hair. I always think about how my boyfriend sometimes walks on the rugs in the bathroom in shoes and all the germs that spreads. There’s so many more things but this is already getting long and I am shaking just thinking about how unclean everything is. I want to deep clean the entire house myself so I can get it to where It’s not like psychological torture everyday and it’s easier to maintain but I have been so busy I don’t have the time. I am worried about my boyfriend thinking I don’t like living with him or that I think that’s he’s dirty but i don’t. We have had several conversations about this and he’s reassured me that he knows none of my obsessive thoughts are personal but I still feel so bad about it. I would like to get therapy to help work through this but currently that is not an option for me. I know things will get better once I get through the main things in my life that are causing a lot of stress and therefore making my ocd flair up, but I need advice on what to do in the mean time. I keep having moments where all I can do is shake and cry and clean and I feel bad for my poor boyfriend who can only sit next to me and try to comfort me or help me clean. I also don’t want to make him worried that nothing he does is enough for me (i’ve also already talked to him about this and told him about how I can never even be clean enough for myself and that I don’t think he’s dirty). There’s been many times where I want to tell him to do things that I think might be my own unhealthy compulsions (ex. not wearing shoes in the house or in our room, not getting into bed with socks on, making sure to completely dry off before getting out the shower, put makeup and jewelry back where they belong right after using them, etc.) but i can’t tell if they’re reasonable or not and i try to not tell him unless it’s something that severely distresses me. I’m aware that everything is going to have germs no matter what and have been using NER’s to help manage my thought spirals/rumination. I know that I shouldn’t keep doing compulsions because it just offers temporary relief and makes the problem worse because nothing will ever be enough. I just feeling so overwhelmed and hopeless and exhausted and want some feedback.
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