Any help with staring OCD?

OCD is horrible...

Can you describe a situation where this has happened? I have dealt with it, but just want to see if it’s similar.

My ocd is triggered due to social anxiety. So this happens at work, social gatherings etc where I cannot make proper eye contact and due to the anxiety I end up making eye contact in wrong places: privates/groin/breast. Even though I’m happily married with kids. Esp if I feel judged at work or in social gatherings it gets triggered more. Are you experiencing something similar?

I will have to remind myself in social settings to maintain better eye contact. It will even happen with people I know and trust - I break away from maintaining eye contact too quickly and I’m not sure what to do about that at this point. Reminding myself to improve eye contact isn’t doing much, but it’s a start.

Yes it happens to me with people I know as well. People at work have started to notice and have been very judgemental to say the least. Most times I also break away from eye contact and also don’t like to engage much with people at work. However it is easier said than done. This has caused me sooo much anxiety, shame, depression that I really need to find the right therapist with ERP for this subtype of OCD. The podcast called OCD stories has been very helpful and educational. The host also talks about staring OCD which is exactly what I’m going through.

The other day I had an intrusive thought while it was raining that my windows were leaking in my room when it was raining hard in my town. I went into my room and just kept looking at my windows to make sure nothing was leaking. Even though it wasn’t leaking at all, I kept checking, staring to make sure it wasn’t wet. That’s the kind of staring at things I deal with. I do have hard times with eye contact. Not necessarily with the same things you do, but I feel your pain when it comes to staring OCD a little bit.