- Date posted
- 6y
- Date posted
- 6y
That’s a very good point you made to the therapist. We all “choose” where to draw our lines, but the important part is making sure it’s us making the choice and not OCD making it for us. I deal with some contamination OCD to where I have chosen some lines that I won’t cross, but OCD makes me want to let those boundaries get gradually more extreme, so I have to expose myself to the uncertainty to keep the thoughts and rituals from taking over.
- Date posted
- 6y
That’s what I did ultimately.
- Date posted
- 6y
I have been building up my self to doing more and more exposures. Then the other day I was out with a friend and she picked up her dogs poop in a baggie and was going to then eat something... without washing her hands. I was like OMG ??? I bet dog owners do this all the time. I made her use sanitizer so I guess that was a compulsion. I can touch animals that are living but I still am afraid of parasites
- Date posted
- 6y
It's partly about the likelihood of getting sick and the consequences if you do get sick. A small chance of getting a cold isn't the same as a significant chance of getting a virus that will likely kill you. You need to ask yourself if your level of anxiety is proportionate to the degree of risk. There is also the issue of what you do to rid yourself of the possible contamination. Do you wash your hands once with soap for 30 seconds or do you wash your hands repeatedly throughout the day to the point that they get so dry that they crack and bleed?
- Date posted
- 6y
This answer is more satisfying than that of my therapist’. Thanks Redhawks2212.
- Date posted
- 6y
If it were me, I would listen to the therapist and try to live with the uncertainty.
- Date posted
- 6y
David Ben-Arteh I don’t have fear of contamination. I just have this disgusting feeling of thou hing these things because I know that people have touched there after touching their private parts.
- Date posted
- 6y
That is almost my same issue. I’m not afraid of the consequences of contamination...I just think it’s gross! It actually makes it easier to be exposed to it than someone who fears an actual consequence such as HIV though. As my therapist explained to me...with OCD you have to expose yourself to things over and above what would gross a typical person out. It’s like trying to bend a pole back straight that is already bent one direction...you have to bend it the other way for a while to have it settle back straight. I hope that made sense!
- Date posted
- 6y
It certainly did.... Because of my ERP.. I have started touching taps and door knob. But last week, I had to use a public washroom and it was dirty and I couldn’t wash my hands there and used my water bottle. Could you please tell if you have exposed yourself to any such situations like bending the pole in opposite direction?
- Date posted
- 6y
I need to do a lot more than I have; but contamination concerns are really only a minor theme for me so I don’t really focus my therapy on that as much as my pure O themes. I have done things like rub the bottom of my shoe and then eating something with that hand. I have heard of people spraying water from the toilet on things in their house and not cleaning it.....but that’s a line I’m not planning on crossing!
- Date posted
- 6y
Also eating food off the floor etc. really just start with things that make you uncomfortable and then gradually work your way to more disturbing things.
- Date posted
- 6y
Thanks buddy.
Related posts
- Date posted
- 21w
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.
- Date posted
- 21w
So I have pretty intense contamination OCD tied to Moral/Real event OCD, and I'm having a hard time with it because part of me does genuinely believe my logic checks out, and I was hoping to get some insight as to how to change the way I see it from other people who sort of get the mindset involved :). To sum it up as well as I can, I basically have a very souped-up version of the same item-event association most people have. For example, let's say you have a HORRIBLE, GOD AWFUL relationship with a person you can't even begin to think of favorably even years after the event. They had gotten you a stuffed animal for your anniversary at some point. You finally "escape" the relationship, and you throw away the stuffed animal. This is seen as a very normal and sound-of-mind action. Here's where things get tricky: For me, throwing out that stuffed animal wouldn't be enough. After all, it touched my table didn't it? And my table touched the floor right? And these things now carry that person's germs. And if I don't get rid of them, then they'll infect my future belongings. This logic isn't entirely flawed either, as even my OCD specialist said he believes in a "weaker version of what I do". How am I supposed to convince myself that what I'm believing is false when the literal psychologist confirmed that what I'm doing is just a more in-depth version of a normal experience? Ex: I have a new outfit, fresh and clean. I'm unbothered and happy, but I knick the side of a table. The table holds awful associations. I get this awful sense of dread. The clothes are now somewhat sullied, and I'll eventually have to give them away. I don't think I'm explaining this as well as I could, but I feel like those notions are there. Anyways, does anyone have any insight as to how to get my mind to genuinely believe that interacting with these things is "safe"?
- Date posted
- 14w
I did an exposure today. More accidental than purposeful, but that's pretty much how it always is for me 😬 So basically, I had to touch some dirty shoes in order to put them on (or at least dirty in my mind), that I had previously trudged through garbage & used syringes with about a yr ago, like I'm talking a "landfill-level" hoarded house - around June of last year if I remember correctly (me and one other person were cleaning that hoarded room for a payment $100 each, which was originally gonna be $25 but the owner eventually realized/admitted that the conditions were just too awful to be cheap about it. Anyways, I didn't realize just how gross it would be till I got there - bcuz the one-time job advertisement didn't exactly mention the severity, only that it would be an organizing of boxes, so I didn't know just how triggering it was going to be for my OCD. It was unspecified. And at one point I got so nauseated that I had to step outside and I was gagging over the lawn). But ya, I don't think I've used these particular shoes since, not once, and this being literally a year later. I also don't remember ever washing them, just sort of stuffing them to the back of the shoe rack, bcuz when it comes to OCD... "ignorance is bliss" or whatever 😂, avoidance, out of sight out of mind... etc. Well, I chose to take a risk and wear them this morning bcuz they went with my outfit, and I planned to wash my hands when I got home anyway. BUT, what completely slipped my mind is that it was quite windy outside, which meant I was constantly brushing my long hair out of my face, u know... away from my eyes so I could see where I was going 😒, with my now "perceived-to-be-dirty" hands, AND -- i wore some of that dreaded lip balm of which I would normally be grateful for to prevent an equally dreadful case of dry lips, so my hair was also "sticking" to said lips, meaning I was having to move my hair off of my mouth like every 5 minutes - yes, very annoying. And all of this for a yard sale, was it worth it? 😅. Well perhaps, cuz I did buy something. Anyways, I was lightly grazing my face & mouth, not that lightly was gonna help, therefore, even though I did wash my hands upon my return, the transfer of germs would have already happened imo I'm at a point now where I'm basically just telling myself "if I get sick, i get sick" 🤷♀️ Cuz there's no compulsion, at least none I can think of, that could possibly undo the potential damage that's already been done (and I'm not asking for ideas LOL) If heaven forbid this does result in sickness, I'll just have to act accordingly by going to the doctors, ppl do it every day... Obviously if I become ill, that will ultimately suck, but like I said, it happens to ppl every day. It's not unheard of * If u guys think I'm in any actual danger - that I've taken on some sort of poison - then sure, tell me, but otherwise I think it's fine * And I feel like what I said before still applies, that if I've taken on board a poison, and start showing symptoms like involuntary/uncontrollable tremoring or something, then unfortunately I'll just have to go to the hospital (of which my city's hospital definitely isn't the best, extensive waits, but ik I'm just spiralling down the rabbit hole now)... this is what ppl do when they're poisoned, no? Go to the hospital? ✅ I'd be lying if I said I wasn't still feeling a little uneasy, but I keep reminding myself of how much time has passed. And most importantly, these converse shoes, even though they were pushed to the back, were still in contact/often touched by my OTHER pairs of shoes in the front. So the cross-contamination has likely already been happening throughout the whole year when wearing my alternative shoes, without my OCD alerting me to it, and without any ailment to me Feeling hopeful 🙏 🙌
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