'Normal' thinking and behaviour issues

[Guest Tryingtoshine]

Hi,

i haven't posted in a while, the last time was when I was first diagnosed with ocd quite a few months ago, im currently having cbt sessions once a week and I can see improvement but one thing I'm struggling with is basically 'what is 'normal' behaviour and thinking' .....my example is this, I have some sewing to do for someone else, I showered and put on clean clothing this morning and I haven't been anywhere/done much today, I can't decide if showering again and changing my clothing is really necessary or if it's OCD telling me I need to. My fear is that I will contaminate the garments I'm sewing if I'm not clean. I'm sitting here battling with myself. Had I been out gardening etc I would of course shower and get clean but I haven't so I'm struggling to decide what 'normal' behaviour would be in this situation and lots of others, I feel like I've lost my way and I don't want to just go and shower incase it's me giving into OCD, I hope this makes sense... I'm not asking for reassurance, maybe there's a technique I'm missing, thanks for reading! 

[photog13]

Hi Tryingtoshine,

You may be getting to caught up in trying to determine what's "normal".  A good rule of thumb is that if you are worrying about needing to do something related to your OCD concerns and debating with yourself, treat it as OCD.  A very good article by Dr. Steven Phillipson (a world expert in OCD) talks about OCD therapy as analogous to straightening a metal pole that's bent in a direction you don't want.  To correct it, that is get a healthy perspective on thoughts relating to OCD, it's best to go a little further than what would be straight or 'normal'.  

[lostinme]

Hi I'm new to the forum too, but I can relate to what you are saying. I am also doing cbt and I'm learning all the time. Personally I would say that this is definately ocd thoughts. Basically you need to look at what exactly you could contaminate the items with, would anything you had on your clothes be harmful, and I would say definately not. If you just wanted a shower because you just felt hot and sweaty it would be ok, but it's because you feel you would contaminate the items I would say it's your ocd and you would be giving into it. Try to leave showering for when you actually need it rather than for decontamination , otherwise your feeding your thought by acting on it and it ends up as one continuous cycle and until that is broken nothing will improve!

[PolarBear]

Truth is you wouldn't have to shower after gardening either. Maybe wash the dirt off your hands. That's it.

Photog is correct. Any time you're having a mental debate about cleaning something or not, it's likely OCD at play.

[Guest Tryingtoshine]

Thanks for the replies :-) it's really helpful to see how other people view certain situations .... I think you are right, photog13 I am getting caught up in trying to work out 'normal', there are so many areas I'm trying to piece together....often it's my standards compared to others, I don't know if they are way off those of other people, either higher or not high enough. An instruction manual on how to live like everyone else sounds like an easy solution but then I think I'd probably question why that is the correct way as opposed to other ways!!, logically I know everyone is different and it shouldn't matter,  I've got this far in life with the same standards I've always had but OCD is great at distorting things, I can't see how I'm going to win this one...I'm just going to try and go with it ,not fixate and try to move my focus, easier said than done though!