- Username
- BusyCat
- Date posted
- 5y ago
Yup! It happens to me as well. I always think I’ve touched the counter and have to re-wash even though in the back of my mind I know that I haven’t. I ended up only re-washing my hands when I’m absolutely certain I’ve touched the counter. If I’m even the slightest bit unsure I don’t wash my hands because I tell myself that I don’t focus on things that I’m unsure about only 100% sure about. Hope that helps! :)
Cait- this is tough. I totally hear you! This has happened to me so many times as I’m washing my hands ocd makes me think I actually didn’t wash it or I touched something dirty. Instead of battling with ocd I just opt to re-wash it again which has caused this habit to get out of control. It’s very difficult but I’ve been slowly taking advice of people here and to fight it while possible hoping it helps in the long run b
Exactly. I try to reason with myself but I always end up compulsively washing my hands. It's brutal. My hands are so red and raw and dry. I'm so embarrassed of them. ?
Hang in there! Let’s keep trying to say to ourselves one wash only! It’s hard but it should help in the long run.
I got the intrusive thought "What if you unknowingly ran into your kitchen, pumped soap in your hands & rubbed it on your TV". My compulsions now are trying to figure out if I did that, looking for potential soap rubbed on the TV. How would you apply ERP to this scenerio? I'm confused about how it works to break the cycle.
I'm stuck in an OCD cycle and having a hard time trying to figure out how to treat it with ERP. Basically what happens when I go to the bathroom, shower, walk past the kitchen sink, my mind goes "You've just ran over to the soap/shampoo bottle, and pumped soap on yourself for no reason." I think that's a weird thought, where did that come from. Next, I'll sometimes re-rinse my hands, body, etc. to make sure I haven't just ran and pumped soap on me for no reason. For ERP I get confused if I'm just supposed to let the thought "you've just ran over to the soap/shampoo bottle and pumped soap on yourself for no reason" be there and not react with compulsions. Or if I need to pump soap on me and not rinse it off, making pumping soap on me the new norm? I don't know, it's confusing to me.
Does anyone else struggle with hand washing/contamination OCD? I feel like it’s not talked about enough that OCD although it’s a mental illness it can have a very real physical impact on a person as well. For me, I used to struggle with compulsive hand washing. It wasn’t so much that I would touch something, and need to wash my hands, it was more so I would just sit at the sink and need to do it over and over again until it felt “right”. But I have gotten better with it, and have done a lot of exposure therapy for it, but my hands and arms still suffer from the brutality of it with the harsh soaps and excessive washing. It feels like my hands and arms are always really dry and despite how much I try to moisturize, just from the amount of time I spent doing it my skin was really damaged. Let me know if anyone has struggled in a similar way?
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