OCD at school

Hi my name is Michelle. I am in high school. At school I was in this class coop and they put this powdery substance on our hands and had us rub it into our hands. Then they had us put our hands under a uv light. The uv light showed us how many germs we have on our hands. Then they had us wash our hands and then put our hands under the uv light. It showed that washing your hands gets ride of bacteria rather than not washing your hands at all. Now my ocd had latched onto my hand washing ocd even more. My hands are getting so cracked it’s getting really bad. What can I do to make ocd easier with hand washing? Has anybody had this ocd before at school?

Tea and Honey

Date posted: 2d

I am so sorry to hear about your struggle. :(:(OCD is so hard to deal with. I am a big fan of ERP therapy. That can really help with the handwashing and a lot of other things. You can get ERP therapy through NOCD, as well as other places. The handwashing is a safety behavior. The OCD tells us that the germs are "dangerous", and so we naturally want to do something to FIX the situation. Therefore, the handwashing is a compulsion designed to FIX danger presented by OCD. In ERP therapy (and maybe other therapies as well), we get training of how to face our fears. And we have to put ourselves in a position to be triggered on purpose--and then refuse to engage in the compulsion. This means that when your hands feel dirty by touching a door knob, for example, you would practice refusing to do anything to fix the situation (including washing your hands). There are a lot more components to this. And there is a lot to talk about here! OCD is tricky, though, because it makes the stakes so high. The OCD does not encourage us to take risks, because the price of disobeying the OCD rules is usually some catastrophic disaster. For example, for most people, the risk of touching a door knob is low. They figure they probably won't get sick. And if they do happen to get sick, they know it will be okay. But for someone with OCD, the risk of touching a door knob is catastrophic. It might be be the death of your parents or someone you love--and the OCD says it would be all your fault. OCD makes the risks so high, that people dare not break the rules. (The "rules" are things like handwashing, and so on.) It usually takes time for us to understand that OCD is not our friend. OCD is like a little gremlin who is trying to steal our lives away. And OCD is a master manipulator. Thankfully, OCD uses the same strategies on everyone. Once you learn how OCD works, you can learn tools in order to defeat it.!! Yes, you can defeat the handwashing!!!! it will take a lot of time and a lot of practice. And it will take a lot of learning of new information. But you can do it.!!! I am here to support you anytime if you have any questions. I love to talk to people on this app. Do you have any options for therapy or to learn more about the OCD? I also recommend this online class in ERP therapy. In this way, you can learn ERP from the comfort of your own home. It might not be the best option for everybody, but I'll post it in case. https://www.ocd-anxiety.com/ Let me know your thoughts !! I hate to see people suffering the way that you are suffering:(:( OCD can make life so hard

MSK15

Date posted: 2d

@Tea and Honey Thank you so much. I do go to a therapist but I went last week and we didn’t really talk about how to cope with handwashing because it wasn’t bad at the time. I have the compulsion of washing hands because of the ritual. I don’t have the OCD of being afraid of germs. It’s just having a thought of having to go to the bathroom and rinse my hands or even do a hand wash routine at school and at home. I have had this in the past, but now it is came back to nip me in the butt. lol. In therapy I have been taught to wait a certain amount of time, I have been waiting at least ten minutes before I would go rinse my hands or wash them. That is something I have done. Do you think going to the restroom and not washing my hands or rinsing them would be some time of erp?

Tea and Honey

Date posted: Yesterday

@MSK15 So is it therapist training you in ERP methods? Or are they doing other types of therapy? Delaying compulsions is a good step. :):) The point of delaying compulsions is to stretch the time longer and longer until you no longer do the compulsions at all. Yes, I think if you went to the bathroom and did not wash your hands, that would be great ERP. This is showing your brain that you did the OPPOSITE of what the OCD wanted--but you survived anyway. If you can prove to your brain that you are SAFE even if you don't follow the rituals, your brain will eventually stop demanding the rituals so much. So if you can practice not washing your hands, that would be great!!

MSK15

Date posted: Yesterday

@Tea and Honey Thank you so much this is very helpful. My therapist has trained me in erp methods for certain compulsions I have had. I will talk to my therapist when I get a chance and talk some more about erp. Thanks again

Tea and Honey

Date posted: Yesterday

@MSK15 You got this!!!

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