- Username
- TrashPanda
- Date posted
- 4y ago
Welcome ? I encourage you to seek professional help. Personally, it jump-started my healing. Also, a therapist can help your wife learn more effective ways to help you while maintaining healthy boundaries. When loved ones participate in our OCD, our OCD gets worse and the relationship experiences strain and conflict. In the meantime, here are some articles about family issues related to OCD. Maybe you and your wife could read them and then discuss them together. https://iocdf.org/expert-opinions/family-issues/
Is there anything that I can do at home in my own time that would help? Or anything that might better explain to my wife ocd as a whole?
@TrashPanda Yes, definitely. What you need to realize is that getting better requires feeling more uncomfortable at first. Similarly, if your wife understands OCD, she's not going to shower and such anymore
Welcome ☺! Have you looked into getting therapy?
Based on what you've shared it seems OCD is already ruining things. It would seem that you could go without treatment and have OCD almost guaranteed to ruin things or get treatment and maybe have the documentation ruin things.
I know exactly how you feel. I have severe contamination ocd after a triggering event a few years ago and it has made my life hell. My husband has been so supportive but I'm terrified that I'll never get better and it will eventually drive him away, which just adds to my anxiety and makes my compulsions worse. I am now seeking help for the first time since this all began. I'm nervous I'm too far gone but I have to try. I think maybe showing your wife YouTube videos or Ted talks about ocd might help. Thinking that you're not being a good enough partner is just going to make your situation worse. I'm sure you're a great partner, it's your ocd that is getting in the way. I've taken up the mantra "it's not me, it's my brain. It's not me, it's my ocd"...it doesnt always help in the moment but overall it reminds me that I didnt choose to be this way and that I'm doing my best. If you're not considering therapy, at least look into the book Brain Lock by Jefrrey Schwartz. It helped me a bit with reframing how I approach my obsessions and compulsions and it might give you something valuable too. Best of luck!
Does anyone have any advice for someone with contamination OCD that is living with a partner without OCD? (Especially given that that partner intentionally or unintentionally sometimes /often says things that make me feel worse/down). I could really use any advice anyone has right now. Things are starting to feel hopeless and I don’t know whether it makes sense to continue with the relationship or if that’s just a temporary feeling in light of what I’m going through. I just feel so alone and misunderstood.
Hello everyone, I'm new here and have severe contamination ocd that has been happening the past four years since I was 20. I'm 24 now and it seems to be getting worse. I don't want to be around kids because I know they're germy little gremlins and carry the main thing I fear that caused my ocd to worsen. I shower whenever anything above my chest has been touched (neck, face, hair). I wash my clothes after one wear because they feel contaminated after the use. I refuse to let people touch my bed or clean clothes. If I hear that anyone in my family is sick I freak out intensely and have to stay away from them. I also shower if I've been in public and people were coughing near me. If I don't feel like showering and that my above triggers aren't contaminated I just wash my arms up to the elbow and go to sleep because I sleep in short sleeve shirts and my arms touch everything all day. I refuse to touch my face, neck or hair after touching my phone or anything else. I bring a travel blanket with me but have to wash it after every use. I use my shoe to open doors and press the cross walk button. If I can't use my shoe I use my pinkie and immediately handsanitize sometimes twice just to have my hands feel clean. I have to use a utensil to eat when in a restaurant and would ask to change it if I see it touch anything. I work at a place that requires me to use a phone so I have to shower and wash my ear. I hold my breath when walking past people. I can't sit back in the car or on the couch because it'll contaminate my neck and hair. I also have to do a double wash with my hands to feel clean. I used to do it for 20 seconds but I do the hand wash for 20 the 1st time then 30 for the second. I can't wear purses with straps that touch my shoulders, same with back packs. And I use so much soap and lotion that don't help keep my hands moisturized. And if I get triggered by anything I sit there in a quiet rage and ramble in my head because I know saying anything out loud will have me look crazy. There are times though that I get angry and close to tears when it feels like I've been contaminated and when my family makes fun of me for things I feel I have no control over especially the intrusive thoughts, emotions, anger, fear, and tiredness I feel on a daily basis. I'm scared of doing exposure therapy because I know they'll have me touch something contaminated and have me touch my face and not wash it how does that help it'll just make me angry.
This is my first post here and I really enjoy this app, since downloading and just reading through it has helped me already. It really makes me feel like I am not alone, and I’m not a freak, and I have struggled with that specifically with OCD for a very long time. Today I had a spike in anxiety and I figured let’s try and utilize the app for its intended purpose. I’m struggling just a bit with doubting my relationship (just married in October) because of some lack of intimacy and feeling like I am not wanted all the time. Even tho we have talked it through multiple times I still find myself having the same thoughts on loop “am I still really in love with her” “did we jump too soon” “what if it isn’t right” when I know 100% that I am in love with her and I wouldn’t want anyone else my side ever and I look forward to growing old together with my best friend. My ocd has also taken a toll on us due to the fact that I go to her for reassurance with my intrusive thoughts, which is not fair to her at all. So here I am, trying this out to see if I can get some support and relief talking with people that struggle with OCD as well. Thanks for reading of you got this far ❤️
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