For the last few weeks my ocd has grown to include contamination as one of my obsessions. I no longer know how to eat, do laundry, or do my job without worrying that I'll be contaminated with covid and unknowingly spread it to others. Plus, the more I find out about covid the worse the fear becomes. Also, sometimes there's conflicting information. They say not to worry about it on your mail, but the mail carrier touches everybody's mailbox. They say don't touch the front of your mask because of germs, but don't worry about it being on your hair. I worry I'm not cleaning my food packaging well enough and that the food will be contaminated if it touches any part of the outer package. How do I do this?
How do I cope with contamination OCD? - OCD Support
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How do I cope with contamination OCD?
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Willow91
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Hi Willow
I understand your distress, alarm and confusion concerning covid hygiene being some who had OCD. Stop reading anymore concerning covid you're going into information overload.
Your workplace, neighbourhood, state hasn't reported of any high spikes, no local lockdown has been imposed then you're fine as long as you follow good covid practice. You haven't caught it, then your doing alright.
You are protecting yourself and the others by wearing your mask in public places and keeping to social distancing guidelines. You are not responsible for their conduct or health and safety. Don't worry about others if they don't mask up. It too stressful.
I carry hand sanitizer that hangs outside of my bag so I don't have to go digging in my bag everytime I need to use it . I also carry a can of disinfectant spray to use. If I need to go into your bag sanitize hands first. When I get in from work I head straight for the shower and wash my hair aswell. I also sanitize my phone.
I leave the clothes in the dirty wash basket to accumulate a load before I wash it, but if you feel uncomfortable with that then wash that day. I then empty the clean washing into a clean basket. You don't need to wash at a high temperature. I wash at 30° for a small load and 40° for a bigger load because it's the detergent that kills the virus. It breaks down the protective lipid coating( a bubble of fat, to you and me) that keeps the virus alive and kills it.
2 you tube vids by health care professionals to help you.
8 tips on shopping safely during COVID 19 featuring dr Jo Barnes an empediologist.
by a dr Jeffery Van Wingen. This version lasts for 13: 32 .
Sorry don't know how to send links.
Hope this helps
in reply to
Oh wow didn't expect the videos to appear. Dr Jeffrey Van Wingen's video is called how to sanitize groceries and discard take out containers immediately. If the link above doesn't work.
It makes sense to take precautions, and it sounds as though you are doing that.
But OCD likes to latch onto concerns with health and hygiene and during an epidemic people with OCD often get obsessions connected to these. During the AIDS crisis there were people afraid of anything red in case it could be contaminated blood, there were people getting themselves tested repeatedly in case they had it.
Obviously Covid 19 is a serious condition for many people, and it's important not to help spread it, but remember that most people haven't got it. So someone touching your mailbox is unlikely to give it to you.
Food packaging: if it makes you feel better, then wash with washing up liquid, as long as it doesn't get into the food, or simply remove it. But on the whole it's safe without washing. The food will be safe to eat.
Ordinary precautions are generally enough. The problem with OCD is that it doesn't respond very well to rational thought. Take a CBT approach to it. Try acting as someone without OCD would, taking sensible precautions, but not extreme ones. Do the laundry as you would normally. That is enough.
My OCD includes a lot of hand washing, but I don't think I have been washing them more than usual, except that I wash them immediately on coming back from shopping.
The main guidelines on social distancing, hand washing and keeping clean are sensible ones. Keep to them and stay safe!
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