Anyone with contamination ocd have success with ERP? Is not even thinking about it really the path to getting over this?

ERP works most effectively on contamination OCD. ERP is extremely uncomfortable, but thats all it is, uncomfortable. But if you can do it, Id recommened doing it.

You can reduce compulsions all you’d like, but just like you said, new ones will come up. But thats the problem. ERP is about thinking about your fears/obessions, not about avoiding the thoughts and just not doing compulsions. Purposely exposing yourself to your fear/intrusive thoughts and the anxiety that accompanies it is the key to success in recovery. So in my personal experience, Ive been challenged with ocd for over 11 years. Ive gone through multiple different obessions/compulsions. But they were all related to a core fear that was the root of the problem. But one of the challenges I had experienced was contamination, specifically getting sick/contracting an Sexually transmitted disease. So much like you, I hated public restrooms. And much like you I would just find different compusions to soothe my anxiety. But it wasnt until I started looking deeper within myself that I found the real reasons that I feared these hypothetical situations, that I really learned to confront the ocd, and more importantly the uncertainty. So I would force myself to use public washrooms and only wash my hands. I would only allow myself to wash my hands for 10 seconds, and then do an exposure like eating food without sanitizing my hands after touch the bathroom door. Or I stopped lininng the toilet seat with toilet paper or paper covers and use it and then go home and sit in my bed in my underpants. In order for ERP to work, you have to expose yourself to the fear/anxiety/Uncertainty and then prevent yourself from doing ANYTHING that immediately provides relief and assurance of certainty. Its very uncomfortable at first and dare I say scary. But it completely rewires your brain and fear centre of the brain for tge better. If you were afraid of watching scary movies, and always avoides them. Forcing yourself to watch the movie over and over is the best way to eliminate the anxiety, but you cant do that if you are watching the movie with your eyes closed. If you still need to talk about anything hit me up. We are all here for you! Im here for you.?

Thank you sooo much! This detail helps a lot. I think our fears are similar. Mine used to be illness and now it’s just pure disgust. I think the issue is that my therapist who I stopped seeing asked me not to think of the fear and to just avoid it and sit with the anxious thoughts. I’ve had ocd for awhile too and what makes a “theme” go away is like you said, getting to the core of the fear and addressing it that way. That’s something I asked my therapist to do in conjunction. I asked her how we can justify that fear is irrational while exposing myself to it. But she refused to answer me because she believes that uncertainty fixes ocd and her style is to not think about the fear and just reduce compulsions. I’m glad it worked for you. Thanks for your tips.

I also have this issue of the contamination spreading. Like if I saw my biggest trigger, blood or any trace of it like a period trash bin then I immediately fear like my entire body needs to be washed 3x along with anything I touched that day. Even my backpack my phones. Etc. Those things go in a separate bin. The fear is so big I can’t handle it.

And it’s all about the disgust

My issue is because my therapist ask me to reduce certain compulsions and I’m able to do that. Other compulsions pop up and since I’m not being asked to reduce those then I’m making no progress. I’m still so disgusted by public bathrooms since the germs there are still overpowering me and making me feel like everything I touched is spreading. She also said not to think about the why or how which hasn’t made me move forward in justifying why i should not do compulsions. How has it helped you?