Hey everyone any tips for Contamination OCD? For example: The sufferer is constantly worried about things such as household chemicals and outside stuff getting on her and then on her stuff and then harming her animals. For example, if she steps on something in the street (something she believes is unsafe like car oil) she worries about it transferring from her shoes to her clothes to her belongings and then to her pets and then she worries about her pets getting sick from it. Because of this she avoids touching some of her belongings (like some of her books) because she worries that she will now think that the "contaminant" is now on the belonging and then she's going to feel tempted to throw it out when she really doesn't want to. Any advice? Tips on how to get this to stop?

You have to exposure yourself to “contamination”. Simple yet difficult. Play in the dirt/mud, take 10 minute showers, wash your hands only when needed, don’t clean your shoes if you come back inside, touch all the books without washing hands before or after, etc.

Exposure therapy is the thing here. Is this a relative to you? I have exactly the same fears, I'm in therapy. Everything I fear I have to face. I go for exposure walks where I'm not allowed to avoid spots on the ground and so on. Gradually I learn to manage my fears. Ask me whatever.

Estrid. There is something I would like to ask you. Have you ever feared that a belonging of yours was contaminated by something you never even saw? For example : The sufferer was gifted books by someone. The person gifting the books had the books in her trunk. When the sufferer pulled out the books she noticed that they were wet. At the time she was gifted these books she wasnt going all OCD paranoid even though she had some anxiety. However, she recently pulled out those books which she was gifted over a year ago and now she's all paranoid that those books she was gifted "contaminated" other books of her own with something dangerous for pets. However the item that she is fearful of was never seen by the sufferer in the gifters trunk. The sufferer is just paranoid that the books were wet from this particular item because she has seen that item in the trunks of other peoples cars and she knows its an item deadly for pets. She keeps thinking about throwing out or giving away or donating the books she feels were "contaminated" by the books in the trunk that were wet from over a year ago.

The only way to come out of this loop is to make exposures to the fears, and it works!

The sufferer did what I guess can be considered "first exposure" today. She's nervous!