Hey ! Anyone struggling with checking OCD?

What kind of stuff do you check ? :p My "favourite " is checking if w everyone lives .

@Jamarceline I take around 6 vitamins and herbal supplements (this is the total) a day so I have to check and recheck if I have taken them all! I also have to check and make sure every single text is replied too! I had to check my trash can to make sure it was properly shut after taking the trash out! I had to check my laundry to see if it was properly washing the “correct” way! These are a couple of things! I have contamination OCD too so it’s hard because I always have to check if my hands are washed properly and if I don’t touch anything that I feel is contaminated.

Is it more like mental checking ?

@Jamarceline yes!

I used to do that a lot. What about when you do your taxes, do you review them more than once before sending them to the IRS?

@Fear Strikes Out Yeah! I remember being afraid that I lied about something or did something malicious to get more money

@ravheall Mine was always about making a math mistake and being audited. Of course, now, TurboTax does all of the math for you. Still, what if I entered the wrong figures from my W2 or something like that?

@Fear Strikes Out Right! Even though other people or systems check my work, there is always a what if

How have you all worked on improving and not checking as much? I suffer with the same obsession, just with all the work I do in school.

@MA30 To me the most difficult part is noticing if its obsession or no cause I used to checking everything so much. I recently realised that my whole day is based on checking.

@MA30 I’m still struggling with it a lot but I do a lot of mindfulness breathing when I’m at my peak stress moment.

@MA30 What has been successful for me is to limit re-checking work to no more than 2 times (I believe that is reasonable for most people) and then letting it go and thinking "maybe I did, maybe didn't make a mistake." For me, the benefits, such as doing other things in my life with that time that I enjoy, have made taking this risk of uncertainty preferable to doing the exhaustive re-checking.

@Fear Strikes Out That's clever. I'll limit checking to two times as well. I've got a question . Do you guys check sometimes senseless stuff like for example someone else's page on instagram ? Like you wanna be updated with someone else's life ? I mean not like you follow someone else's account and you like the content but like you have person from the past that you dont have contact with anymore and you keep checking this persons social media for no reason . But you just feel need to check it to" know '' if there is some knew pic of him / she . In my example it's not one person . Its couple of people from the past but one guy I check everyday ?. ( I had feelings for that one )

@Jamarceline Turn on post notifications for him and let Instagram check for you whether there's something new! :)

@Jamarceline Or check his page 3 times a day (breakfast, lunch, dinner) and start turning it back to 2 times a day (lunch, dinner), then one time a day (dinner), then try not checking! Build up that tolerance of uncertainty! You got this!

@Fear Strikes Out I really like this. It's hard to let go after that 2nd time, but I like how you consider your priorities in life. If you missed a mistake in your work after 2 times of checking, you were never going to see it!! We have to believe that firmly.

@MA30 That's a good plan ! Thanks . :) so simple but so difficult to realise what can actually help you haha . I guess talking about it with other people helps

All the better! Glad to hear you're so far along. Keep trying to improve!

@MA30 The worst is also to me when I'm expecting certain reaction from other person and person reacts differently and then I get anxious like i think : " did i do something wrong" , "what if he didn't like it" so I check by asking if he likes it and if I did something wrong . It's not good for me and annoying for other people. ?

@Jamarceline I feel that! It's hard to accept the possibility that we may have wronged other people! By replying to me, you've taken the chance that your words have harmed me, so you take this risk all the time! You're stronger than you think!

@MA30 Thanks ❤