Contamination

[paulc20-]

My OCD problem seems to be hand washing too much where my hands are sore. An example of my OCD was when I used a litter picker to pick a toilet roll out of the toilet bowl. The toilet itself wasn't clean and my flat in general wasn't clean but my sister cleaned the flat & the litter picker got moved to a carpeted alcove area. This has always played on my mind. My sister tidied in general and put magazines and books together on the coffee table and I can t bring myself to touch them!

When mail arrives it lands on the floor in the hall & I have a problem with that and with any thing that lands on the floor because of before when the toilet floor was not clean! How can I get over this ? It s ruining my life. I always lived with my parents and they passed away in 2004 & 2005 so things were not my responsibility but now are . I need so badly to conquer this .

Thank you

Paul Cummins

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I am so sorry to hear that you are going through a difficult time with OCD.

I have learnt in therapy to sit with the anxiety and the feared consequences, and resist

doing any cleaning rituals.

The anxiety will increase in the beginning, but slowly it will lessen, and the thoughts will fade away, and they wont be bothersome anymore.

I know this is not easy, and I struggle daily with it.

I also have washing compulsions, doubting if I washed my hands with soap, or did I wash the dishes with soap and water ?

We can keep trying in our therapy.

Hope you feel better.