I’m new to this community. My daughter is 14 and is suffering from what I believe is contamination ocd. She was just fine this evening and out of no where was crying uncontrollably. I’m so lost as a parent because I don’t know how to help her. I can’t even give a hug. I feel so bad just letting her cry.

Hello, I have posted before regarding my 13 year old daughter and wondered if anyone else had the same triggers, hers is mental contamination. She doesn’t like bogies, snot , anyone touching their nose, Nose breathing - can’t stand near her pass her things, have to look away when she comes I. Same room so don’t nose breathe near her, She has done a week of Skype sort of intense therapy/ she has done some ERP - went into her sisters Room, Opened cupboard doors, touched things, Went into her room without washing her feet, Touched her remote Control but won’t try anything more and to even get her to repeat these things over again she says I am nagging and all I want to do is talk about ocd, she can be very Bulshy and repeats what I say is a sarcastic way - I’m finding it hard at the Moment to figure out what is her being scared of doing things, or is she is just being a teenager and a bit lazy, and when she speaks to Me Like rubbish - I try not to retaliate as she gets stress and panicky and then it goes on and on but she doesn’t even clear up the mess around the only sofa she will sit on and no one else is allowed over ther or in that area incase we nose breath or something falls out of our Nose. She Knows what she needs to do but when I suggest anything she says oh you were proud of me yesterday when I did. That now you aren’t and you just want more All the time / I don’t care about me I just want her not to lose anymore of her life to this horrid bully- it is like we are the contaminated horrible ones and not the ocd! Any help would be greatly received thankyou

Hi everyone. First time here. I suffer from Contamination OCD. I have a good support group in friends, family, and my boyfriend, but I have not met anyone else with OCD and I needed to reach out to others to find help. I first got OCD when I was 17 (I am now 33) and was able to go into remission, but COVID brought it back. I was struggling at work (which was outside with the public). I found a therapist and she wrote me a doctor’s note suggesting I be allowed to work from home. My work was not accommodating at all and only offered me FMLA leave, so I took it as my only option and eventually got on Short Term Disability. The whole process took forever and was incredibly stressful. My leave was supposed to be a time of healing and it just made my OCD symptoms worse. My employer basically treated me as though I was trying to get out of work and proved to me that though they talk about the importance of mental health, they don’t take mental health seriously. I ended up having to leave my job “involuntarily due to health reasons” as they would not grant an extension nor let me return with any restrictions/accommodations. My therapist seemed good at first, but it became clear that she wasn’t really helping me. She would often use our sessions to vent about the insurance company and in one session, she basically called me a hopeless case and kept saying “I don’t know. I am concerned. I don’t know how you are going to be able to function” and threw out the word hospitalization, though she did backtrack on that one. I struggle everyday. I am worried that something from outside of the home touched something clean and is now contaminated. I need help working through this. I am constantly looking for reassurance, question if things are clean, wash my hands, use too many disinfectant wipes, and take showers upwards of 50-60 mins. I feel like my mind is being taken over by my OCD, I’m losing time, and it’s straining my relationship. For anyone who is struggling with contamination OCD brought on by COVID - any tips? My therapist never gave me anything specific to work on with this - to help me focus on something else. I am in the process of finding another therapist, but until then - any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

I’m a mom of a 6 month old and my OCD has gotten so bad that my brain constantly convinces me that I’m doing something bad to her or feeling a gross way about her to the point where I don’t even want to be near her. This is breaking my heart because I love my daughter so much and had such a strong bond with her and this is killing me and making me sad/feel disgusting at the same time.