Contamination OCD

@Anonymous31564 I’m not sure, my therapist wants me to touch the waistband of your clothes during the day (the area you touched when you went to the toilet) but I just can’t bring myself to get toilet germs on my hands and then touch my phone for example.

@DaniRae47 I don’t know if this is a trigger but I find on a mixer tap I just use a tiny bit of soap on the end of it (where I’m going to turn it off) and wash it then I feel ok to touch it after I’ve washed my hands. I know it not really addressing the ocd but I find it’s a bridge until I can turn it off properly. Thank you ❤️

@Anonymous - Do you just wash your hands first then pull your clothes up? I’ve been using wet wipes to wipe my hands then pull my clothes up then wash my hands.

@Natalie Yes, I do. However, if I use my own toilet, I don’t wash my hands when pulling up my clothes. In someone else’s house, I wash my hands. If I am in a public restroom, I use toilet paper to open the door and keep my hands clean before pulling my clothes up. I think we have some performance for ourselves, and if we don’t get anxiety for that, it’s okay to do something like that. Some people get so much anxiety in the toilet, but I don’t get anxiety. I just like being clean in this case, and I had this performance before my OCD, and I think it doesn’t bother me.

@Natalie This also sounds good in my opinion.

@Anonymous - Oh ok so it’s something you’ve always done really. Mine just set in when my ocd got bad. I never used to think too much about touching my clothes. I always had a thing where I’d leave like the button and zip of your trousers until after washing hands but now it’s pulling them up is the problem. My ocd is centred around using the bathroom you see. It’s my main problem.

@Natalie I see. But you're right, when I didn't have OCD, I didn't think about that too, but I remember that without stress, I have done it like a habit. I was a tidy girl, but I didn't wash too much or think about everything others did or anything. After OCD showed up, things changed. But don't worry if you expose yourself enough to the recommendation your therapist gave you, you will eventually be able to touch your clothes without stress or at least not care whether you touch your clothes or not, just like before. Just you have to let anxiety pass and Tell yourself, "I can be like my old self."

@Anonymous - Thank you for your helpful words! 😁

@Natalie You're welcome. 🙂 I think you know because you working with a therapist, you shouldn't review in your mind when exposing yourself. I mean, avoid mental complications.

@Anonymous - Yes she just kind of wants me to do it and not think about it and carry on as normal. It’s just so hard as I just would feel like I’m putting germs onto my clothes. I have the wet wipes at the moment as a bridge but she wants me to stop using them soon. But I just can’t get past the transfer thought we call it where you feel as though you are putting germs onto your clothes. I feel as though maybe I should just keep the wipes. How do find contamination affects you, if you don’t mind me asking?

You're welcome. I was in a severe situation too. I thought water in the bathroom or from cleaning dishes before put in dishwasher splashed on me, and I felt gross. I thought the walls or any items in the bathroom that came close to my clothes or body. It was deliberate. I thought whwn other breathing can make me sick. Now I don't afraid of get illness but still in some of things I have compulsions I feel contamination without afraid of germs it's stupid Yes indeed , I agree.How many months do you use thrapy? My program was 12 werk or 3 months

@Anonymous - Yes you are right, we need to live with the uncertainty. There was a time I managed it well. So I know I can probably get back to that.

@Natalie Dr. Joseph Murphy says in his book, The Power of Your Subconscious Mind, that we are creatures of habit. By practicing enough, we can succeed at anything, just like driving, swimming, or playing music. Also, Matt Codde said in his program that we have practiced OCD so much that it's time to practice ERP. By practicing enough and exposing ourselves, we can break the cycle of OCD. It is important that we believe in ourselves and believe that it will work.

@Anonymous - How does it affect your life? I’ve been struggling for 6 years with it since it got really severe.

@Anonymous - I hadn't had contamination OCD, but a year or maybe more before COVID started, it was so mild I didn't know it was OCD. I just felt different and sensitive, but with COVID, it completely showed up and got severe until my life became smaller. I just thought nothing was clean. I washed my clothes every day, sometimes two or three times. Anything annoyed me, and I felt disgusted by everything. It was severe for me too. Then I started to Google and found Matt Codde on YouTube, and then for a while, I used the Unstuck app to manage my fears and find my core fear I still sometimes use it ,then used 12-week program of Matt Codde .

You can find him on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music, or his platform: https://www.restoredminds.com Yes, I am so much better, but there are still some compulsions I should eliminate. I don't wash my hands too much or take a shower every time or change my clothes too much anymore. Even though I wash my clothes two or three times a week, in the past, I washed them every day, sometimes two or three times a day, which was excessive. I can imagine how hard it can be not to go to the toilet because of those rituals, but I know you can succeed because you know what life is like without contamination OCD, and you were in that position before. You can get there again. Is your therapist from NOCD?