Hello, i have ocd and find myself washing my hands after touching almost anything that I feel is unclean. I worry that if I don’t wash them then contamination could occur or it could negatively affect me somehow. It’s gotten to the point where I think so unrealistically of when I should or shouldn’t wash them, causing me to not know what to do so I just wash them to be safe. Could anyone help me with ways to fix this issue or lessen it please.

Thanks guys, I thought I was going crazy. I’m gonna try to just ignore that feeling of washing them push through. It seems like if I touch something that I feel is dirty and feel the need to wash my hands, if I get distracted or wait like 5 min, I sometimes can’t remember what I was worried about and move on without washing. But then next obsession starts?

Hi there, I am sorry that you're struggling with this. I also am having trouble with hand washing now. From what I have been learning in therapy it's best to practice Exposure Response Prevention. Try to start with noticing when you feel the "impulse" to wash, notice the thoughts associated with the fear and resist performing the compulsion (hand washing). Stopping compulsions is the key to beating OCD. There is also such a thing as mental compulsions such as mentally reviewing a situation (it's a form of checking). You can do this! I need to follow this myself..

Thank you. I’m going to try this and hope I improve!

Thank you gardengoddess. I will try this for sure. I think i maybe slowly improving but still have much not progress to make.

Hi, I have this problem too. I managed to (sort of) get it under control by postponing washing my hands each time I had the compulsion. If my OCD was telling me to wash my hands, I would set a timer (usually for 20-30 minutes). When the timer was finished, I was allowed to wash my hands. Over time you can increase the time on the timer. When I started using this technique I could only postpone for one minute but it does get better if you persist with it although I do understand that it is difficult. I hope that makes sense. Good luck! ?

Lil Z, you are not going crazy. You can rest assured about that. Although I can definitely relate to the worry about "am I going crazy"? That worry alone can be apart of OCD, and increases anxiety. It sounds like you're building some great skills for yourself with your OCD! Great job keep it up! I understand what you are experiencing. The idea with exposure response prevention is not to ignore the feeling that results when we are facing an obsession (such as feeling the need to wash our hands in response to a fear -usually sparked by an intrusive thought). I think what you're doing is GREAT!! Going forward, I recommend allowing and accepting yourself to feel the feeling you are feeling such as anxiety, etc whatever the feeling is that arises from not washing your hands, sit with it. Allow it to be present without obeying what it is compelling you to do (wash hands). As you practice this over time, the compelling need to hand wash should dissipate. Go you!! The idea is to sit with the feeling, not push it away. Delaying the hand washing until the need disappears can help too!!

You're welcome, I hope it's helpful. I definitely understand how hard OCD is. I've just been learning about my OCD more recently and I feel like I've barely scratched the surface.

I’ve just started doing this worse than I ever have before and it’s caused my hands to be red and dry and painful. I haven’t found anything to help me at this point in time unfortunately, I just want you to know you aren’t alone I’m dealing with this. ♥️

I hope it goes well!