Contamination OCD Worsening

TW — contamination ocd thoughts Hello guys, unfortunately I am beginning to notice my contamination OCD has worsened. I’m not sure if anyone has thoughts on how to move forward while I find therapy (like how I can prevent it from worsening on my own while I wait for treatment), but basically it started out as me washing my hands and counting to 20 but always restarting if it didn’t feel right. My brain seems to not trust if I’ve done something and would rather restart. Eventually these compulsions kept growing. I especially am now realizing how dirty the bathroom is / how dirty my clothes get from being outside in public. I keep a mental note of all the ways anything on me could’ve been contaminated and spend a long time washing my hands or changing clothes. I used to not think about this, but now it’s making me super uncomfortable. I don’t know how to not give into the compulsions because I feel like things will be dirty — should I just sit in the discomfort of allowing things to be contaminated? Thank you for any help!

Rlamar

Date posted: 35w ago

Truly the only way through it is to accept the uncertainty. You should try some YouTube videos on ERP for contamination if you haven’t already. They are really helpful and this is likely what you’d be doing in therapy anyway so you can get a head start. You can also try asking yourself what your past self would’ve done in any given situation. For example would the past you have rewashed your hands? Would the past you have thought twice about the clothes? I know I wouldn’t have. And even though it’s hard and I can’t imagine doing half of the things I used to, sometimes it’s helpful to have a reference of what is considered a normal sense of worry and when it is crossing the line when it comes to contamination OCD.

bumblebee_bu...

Date posted: 35w ago

@Rlamar The past self thing is helpful! I tried a bit of that yesterday and let go of some minor things. I’ll continue to try and avoid these compulsions!

Anonymous

Date posted: 35w ago

You sound like me. I too have contamination OCD and it does hold hands with my Just Right OCD.

luna_8

Date posted: 34w ago

I’m like this too! in the past i had clothes for outside/public and home clothes, I would change before going to bed. But didn’t over wash my hands or worry so much. I go back to videos of myself doing everyday tasks when I wasn’t like this and try to use that as a reference. if i was able to do it in the past, i can do it now. As for handwashing, it’s a bit hard, doing certain things makes me wash my hands for a while until it feels right but I hope we can overcome this.

Stefany906

Date posted: 32w ago

Hi there. I have contamination ocd as well and it just recently got really bad. I am in the same thought process as you. Everything feels contaminated. My apartment, couch, bed, clothes, car, my hair even. I liked what someone said above about the past you. Because that is how I rationalize a lot of my behavior is I wasn’t like this months ago. I have also been telling myself “that’s just a thought. It has no facts behind it” when I have a bad thought that pops into my mind. Realizing the compulsions don’t help you feel better in the long run is what’s helping me as well!

leena445

Date posted: 23w ago

im so confused

im not diagnosed, but these past two days have been terrible. i constantly have this underlying feeling that i might do something that i think is gross and i feel like i can’t do anything on my own because otherwise i might do something wrong. like i feel like i constantly have to be in front of people so that i can make sure of my every action. this is so exhausting and I’m so confused. and like i keep getting terrible images and stuff replaying in my head. i also try to recall what happened but i feel like i have false event too. i used to have religious ocd and that eventually stopped completely, but now it feels like all my work getting over that was pointless. also like i feel like i might have contamination ocd but not the typical germ type. I just get terrible images and I can’t remember if those images are true or not even though they’re impossible and i feel terrible. I don’t know if i could ever get over this because even the thought of it is terrible.

leena445

Date posted: 23w ago

please give any advice

i made a similar post, but I didn’t really get helpful responses. also I’m not diagnosed and can’t get diagnosed , but the past two days I’ve been spiraling and I have constant anxiety. I feel contaminated and like I keep having actions replay in my head and I see images of terrible things and I just feel gross. also like I can’t do anything alone or else I’m afraid that I might end up doing something wrong. so then every action I do has to be in from of other people so I can make sure I didn’t do anything crazy. any time I’m alone and I go about my day later on I always get these thoughts and what I’m pretty sure is false event ocd and I’m stressing so much.

EllieH95

Date posted: 14w ago

How do you do ERP without spiraling?

I have contamination OCD that causes me to excessively wash my hands/clean items with disinfectant wipes. I know I just need to start with small exposures but how do I do that without spiraling? I tried a while back by just touching the outside of my dishwasher and not washing my hands after and it led to me being unable to even exist in my house. I basically lived on my couch for three weeks as it was the only 'safe' space that I had not touched with my dirty hands. I had to take a week off work to clean my house to make it somewhat liveable. I still haven't got round to cleaning everything though so things like my kitchen are still no-go zones that I don't enter. I just don't know how to start ERP without it making everything worse. Any advice would be appreciated. I am not seeing a therapist at the moment due to financial constraints.

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Contamination OCD Worsening

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