First post and new here. So I’ve been doing very well as of late but have had minor symptoms come back recently. Today has been stressful as I had severe germaphobia problems with touching or being near dirty things and I may or may not have stepped on some greasy bag of mcd’s that some a holes littered. I can’t get it out of my mind and I’m on the verge of doing an old compulsion I used to of thoroughly washing or spraying my shoes down with some spray. Is this irrational/ocd behavior or am I justified in wanting to do this after possibly stepping on trash?! Any advice or comments are appreciated.

My room is also my safe place :) my decontamination zone ha ha. That’s awesome that you are wearing them. Resisting complushions is hard. It makes you feel so uncomfortable. And you can’t stop thinking about it. For me I’m only just starting, I found a few easy to resist and others I think will take more time. But every time I try a new one I just think to my self. Is this rational or is this my OCD. My psychologist told me that I have to at least recognize which ones are rational and which ones are my OCD even if I don’t resist them, it’s important to start recognizing them.

It’s so good to read that other people keep their room as their safe space too, this is how I’ve always felt with my contamination OCD. I’ve struggled lately with my safe space also turning into my whole house though, which can be really hard. I hate having people over and sometimes have to shower and wash my clothes after being out in certain situations.

@Sketti I would love to have my entire house decontaminated! For me it’s not an option because of my partner. I can keep my couch and room decontaminated as my safe place but the rest of the house is just too hard when your partner works in construction and you have two cats and a dog ?. I also hate having people over. I avoide it if possible (but my doctor told me not to avoide social situation as the more you avoide them or people coming over to the house the worse it will get) but for now I do avoide it untill I can get a grip on my OCD. I also have to have a shower if I have left the house. As soon as I leave the house most of my OCD evaporates because I know when I get home I’ll have a shower and almost “reset” my cleanliness with the shower. I didn’t always have to have a shower. I started my just changing my clothes. But now it has to be a shower as soon as I get home. It’s so crazy how you can start with only a few things that are more easy to Handel and then all of a stiffen you are doing so many complushions you didn’t even realize they were getting worse and worse.

Ah, it’s frustrating. Sometimes I’m so tired and don’t want to have a shower (may have already showers x2 times already that day) but I still have to have one before bed if the slightest thing has contaminated me. ?