Hand washing

You can get better, but it takes time and work. ERP therapy helps you create a hierarchy of exposures based on how much distress they may cause you and you work from the lowest to the highest. For example, maybe you start by just touching something you find a little gross and then you don’t wash your hands immediately after. Or you wash them one time, for 20 seconds, and then walk away. You refrain from doing the thing that your OCD is telling you you need to do (wash more). Acknowledge that you’re having OCD thoughts, respond to the thought in a way that devalues it, sit with the discomfort you feel, and recognize that you’re capable of handling the discomfort. The more you practice this, your brain will learn that your OCD is a liar. It will get easier to accept the uncertainty of whether or not your hands are “clean enough”. It really works, but in the beginning it’s best to do these exposures with a therapists guidance.

I deal with this everyday or should i say every hour, seeing my condition, father told me, that, if you wash your hands once, it protects your hands for next 24hrs ftom germs, so i am trying reduce the times i wash my hands, although it's difficult but we can overcome this! Immediately after washinv your hands for maximum 2 times, get busy, you might feel better or won't think about it.

Ok so your afraid to be unhealthy....so than be unhealthy.... isn't it better to be unhealthy and die early than to go through what you are going through.... you're only doing compulsions to protect yourself from becoming unhealthy.... dont protect yourself from becoming unhealthy, rather allow yourself to become unhealthy and live a happier more free life but not repeating actions and having compulsions

Here's a virtual handwashing exposure that has helped me practice ERP and get stronger in my responses in the moment when washing my hands - there's three levels to it on the YT channel https://youtube.com/shorts/QI-eIildbec?feature=shared

You’re not alone!! It’s a nightmare to have to wash your hands over, and over again, especially when they start getting cracks. Still trying to get out of this habit, but the best thing to do would be to do deep breathing, and start allowing things into your circle. For example, you bring in the groceries, and after touching all of them, you wash your hands once, not repetitively. Let that panic set in, and let it sort itself out. After a while, you’ll feel proud to have conquered that feeling. To wash your hands isn’t to be clean, to do what’s right is to be clean, and that’d be by taking your first steps toward letting some of the hand washing go. And if you need something to keep your hands moisturized, would definitely recommend cerave sa cream!