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They're just so raw and cut and bleeding but I just keep washing them. The anxiety of thinking/feeling they're "dirty" is just too much to handle.

Do I stand at the sink while my daughter washes her hands? She wants me to turn the faucet on and off. She gets mad when I’m not doing exactly what she wants and then ends up washing for an hour or more. Or do I just leave the room and let her do it.

I have contamination OCD and it is difficult to get anyone to understand why I’m afraid to touch certain things. People assume I’m afraid of germs and disease or that I think I or someone else will get sick. This is not true. I’m afraid to touch the things because I just don’t want what it is connected to in my mind to be a part of me or anyone I love.

I cleaned for so long and showered for an hour. My hands are so pruney. I hate living like this. I’ve lost hope in myself. I cannot do it. I hate the fact that OCD is curable I hate it. I used to have a good plan for my future. Now I’m just nothing. Two years ago I thought that I would be better but I’m still the exact same. I was going to go to film school, I was going to move out, I had my own car, I graduated high school, was going to a behavioral program for this, and had so much opportunities lined up! But I’m still in the exact same place two years later.

I’m of course just kinda of tired of cleaning up and not knowing for sure when things are contaminated, re contaminated. And it’s stressful because you can’t physically see germs with your normal eyes. I’m considering downsizing my life, sorta like a minimalist just so I won’t feel like I have soooo much to clean/sanitize. I wonder how people without OCD feel like when they come into contact with contagious viruses. Do they excessively clean? Do they wonder about re contamination? I know mine will always be more obsessive, I just wish my thought process was at a normal pace that I’m still able to move forward with my life regardless of the obstacles..

I've been having some contamination OCD recently, and it's been affecting my hands a lot. My brain tells me that everything is dirty, and it results in me washing my hands way more then what's good for me. The skin on my hands is getting red and cracked. If anyone knows how to help me out, it'd be awesome!! ☹️

I just quit my job today due to the crippling harm OCD that I have been having for the past couple months. I’m also a type one diabetic and so worried I won’t be able to find another job because I can’t hold it together at work. Due to the fact I lost my job, all my money is going to go to medical supplies for my diabetes. Before the harm OCD it was contamination and health OCD. I’d much rather go back to the other one than the harm one. Here is the thing, I can’t afford therapy at the moment. I know ERP is the gold standard. I read about CBT and acceptance therapy. I won’t go into detail about my harm OCD because I’m very much embarrassed and ashamed. I don’t even want these thoughts or like these thoughts. I want to run away from them so bad. I just want to love, be loved and be happy. Now without a job, no health insurance, being type one diabetic, and at I would say almost the height of this OCD, does anyone have any advice? Any words of encouragement? I cry every day about this and feel like a monster. I can’t get disability, I can’t afford health insurance without a job, and I don’t know how to get through this harm OCD. If anyone just can text me back, especially if you have dealt with a similar OCD I would appreciate it. I’m so lonely and lost about it all. I never thought I’d get into this situation. I’m staying as strong as I can but just anyone able to talk I would appreciate it. Thank you guys for reading.

my puppy licked in my nose and i’m scared about that disease that you can get that can cause you to lose your limbs!! omg i’ve been on google for hours!!! i know it’s rare!! but i don’t want to be the one to get it!

I have germ OCD/Emetophobia, and death OCD. I just started Luvox, but my OCD and anxiety has me scared something bad will happen if I take it so I haven’t been consistent. It’s ruining my marriage..I feel guilt 24/7. Can anyone relate…

I'm having a very hard time with contamination and health concerns OCD,I feel I'm about to give up. My parents even if they live extremely far from me and I haven't seen them in more than 6 years ago, still they don't really try better ways to help me through the distance. They have an immense lack of empathy, kindness, understanding, patience and compassion about my situation.My husband has become a monster, so mean and heartless. I'm all alone with my toddler. My hands are absolutely destroyed due to the over washing. I have waited 2 weeks to be able to open and use some makeup I ordered, but as I saw the box was opened Istarted to think what if someone has deliberately tampered the makeup, or polluted it with something very dangerous as Anthrax spores? And I never dropped that belief, I asked here for opinions and suggestions on how to deal with that. I got so helpful, kind and good answers, still I couldn't do a change. Now when I was reading a little more about OCD to try to find more help. I crossed with this, I didn't know, after reading this,l feel completely disappointed, to live with OCD, depression and anxiety it's not life, now reading that we are in higher risk of developing BD and Schizophrenia, it's awful. In days like this..I wish I was dead or never even born.

Any tips on how to not constantly worry about getting sick during flu season? My contamination OCD has never been as bad for me as it has been this year and even after being in therapy, I’m not sure how to cope with the anxiety and paranoia. 🥲

My partner, has been struggling with ocd for about 2 years. How do i help them and know what to say back to them? they are currently seeing a ocd therapist but they still find it hard not to tell me. i was told to not acknowledge them but it’s hard when it’s constant every day. they struggle with ROCD, intrusive thoughts, contamination, and number ocd. i want to help them but it’s hard as someone who dosent have these. Like for example they won’t wear clothes that have touched the door frame, door, wall etc or will tell me their intrusive thoughts and if i ignore they get upset and i just feel bad. i dont want to be a bad partner for not understanding but i am trying and i know it’s hard for them and everyone who struggles with any type of ocd.

Hi! Sorry to bother you guys, but I’m really scared right now. So basically, my throat and glands started hurting yet seer ray before I went to work and I just work up in the middle of the night with a stuffy nose and my throat hurts a little more. I looked at my throat in my phone camera and it looks kinda swollen now and I’m really scared that it’s gonna close. But if it was going to close wouldn’t it have happened already? Please someone respond, I’m really scared of getting sick.

I’ve been reflecting a lot about my childhood and how my OCD tendencies were so obvious but I didn’t even know what OCD was… just thought I’d share so we can laugh (hopefully) and recognize that we can’t help that we have OCD! Most of the following were things I’d do when I was between the ages of about 8-16…I may or may not still do some of them 🤣 * praying with my hands turned up because if I prayed with them face down I was praying to the devil * Correcting mean thoughts about other people to nice thoughts otherwise I was a bad person * Beating myself up for not smiling at other people in public * Washing my feet every time I played outside barefoot because I feared that dog poop somehow got on my feet and I would get sick because of it (even if I know I didn’t step in any) * If praying specifically about someone else I would HAVE to include everyone or something bad would happen to them * Pushing a thought away by shaking my head no or literally spitting it out * Confessing about making a MySpace because I wasn’t allowed to have one as an early teen, and ruminating on it for an entire summer (!!!) and fearing that someone would abduct me (due to the horror stories of predators on it at the time) even though I wasn’t active on it * Constantly making sure friends liked me by asking them (“are you sure you want to be my friend?”) * Constantly making sure my parents weren’t mad at me (“are you mad at me? Did I do something?) * Over apologizing (like 5-10x) if it wasn’t a big deal and needing to be sorry was not necessary Oh ✨ OCD ✨ you’re so silly!

does your OCD get so consuming to the point that you CAN'T shower/do regular things that you would normally do? i'm not even depressed. i'm just burnt out & so overwhelmed by my own mind that i can't even shower or take a bath. & that's huge for me because i'm usually VERY clean/i always try to make sure i smell good. i'm just reaching out for support wherever i can at this point.

I can’t stop myself from washing my hands for like 10–15 minutes every time after using the bathroom. I hate it and it gives me so much anxiety that I literally put off using the toilet until I absolutely have to. I know it’s ridiculous but I don’t know how to make it stop. Please help! 😭

Today I was brave enough to go out, together with my toddler, and walk to the church house, where I was going to meet the priest to have a chat about my struggles. As the Lutheran church has been so welcoming to me, I felt entitled to do so. The priest has been so kind every time I have met him, that I was very confident about today, and despite the very harsh weather (we were -17°C with feels like -24°C) I would much preferred to have stated home, but I didn't. I did my best to be there. Still I didn't make it on time. I had to call the priest 2 times to apologize and let him now we were almost there. I explained him, my baby girl she is still slow to walk in so much winter clothing and shoes, and it was so cold. I somehow knew I shouldn't have gone there. But I thought it was my OCD sending me negative or intrusive thoughts. The priest wasn't the same today, he seemed to disconnected from the conversation, he wasn't happy today, he seemed bored and not interested in talking, I got confused and uncomfortable, since he invited me to go and talk. He insisted me on saying hello to the deacon there, but I was very scared to so so, since she just came back yesterday from Africa, she was there more than a month. So I was so worried thinking: "what if" she brought a disease home? Since no one told me, what was she really doing there and where, they just said on service, it's not so hard to assume perhaps she was in some place assisting people in need and maybe suffering from some diseases. Still they introduced myself to her, she didn't seem any nice, she seemed to not to be eager to meet me, as in the past due to extreme fear and isolation I was into, I failed to visit her and talk to her I guess she must have remained me. She had handshake with me (which I got so nervous) and then she came close to my child to greet her. But I got even more nervous. After all, I came home, took long shower, gave one long shower to my toddler also. I couldn't handle the anxiety about: "what if the deacon is ill without having visible symptoms yet, since she had to take several planes and being at airports, and maybe to have been around people who was very vulnerable and ill? So I decided to send an sms to a colleague of the deacon, I have met her a couple of times and she seemed nice. After I wrote the message, before I even sent it I thought I didn't want my question to be misunderstood and get them upset with me or think something wrong, so I asked to the chatgpt to re write the message in a very respectful way. So the AI did it. I sent it, it took several hours until I got a response. When I got the response I was so hurt by her words. She never even answer my questions. She just said something like this: Paulina, I'm so sorry to hear you feel this way, I'm worried and very convinced you need professional help with all of this... Among other few words she wrote. I felt like she tried to say that I'm crazy. It's something I have noticed here, people tends to be rude or to sharp to say things about mental health. To suffer from anxiety and OCD its not to be crazy or insane. To struggle from this psychological disorders doesn't make me stupid, crazy or dangerous. I suffer from this all the day every day. It makes my life a hell, the last thing I need is someone being rude and treating me as a crazy or mentally impared person. I'm not. After thinking a while about germs words I wrote her an answer and I cried my eyes out. I feel more calm now. But it feels so hard to live in a society where people has so much ignorance about OCD and how badly affects the life on the individuals who suffer from it. I wish people was more empathetic, kind and supportive. Instead being harsh and rude. The only good thing here is I was outside with my daughter, and I tried despite all, to recognize my effort and to feel I did one thing different today. I hope someone can share with me if you