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I really need to do know if this is OCD or something I should genuinely be worried about! My child won a prize from the fairground in the park.  I didn't think nothing of it until I was holding it.  The cardboard package was stained why looked like oil mark but it looked like it had been spilt on.  I left it in the car and it looked the same at the end of a hot day so I know it wasn't wet but the mark was still there, the same.  My OCD is fear of semen and I really don't know if this packet had a semen stain on or if it was just oil.  Should I be worried? Everything our clothes touched from that day is contaminating my house.  I tried not to think about it but I remembered again when I did the laundry last night and now I don't know what to do.  If semen can look like this?  

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You need to recognise when OCD is up to its old trucks. OCD is telling you the risk is huge but it's not. It's all a big lie. There is no risk and there is no contamination.

Recognize the signs. You saw a spot. You got an intrusive thought that it could be semen. In addition, the thought caused you anxiety. Lastly, you at least wanted to do a compulsion to get rid of the anxiety you felt. Likely you've ruminate over it and at least contemplated cleaning things unnecessarily. 

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4 hours ago, PolarBear said:

You need to recognise when OCD is up to its old trucks. OCD is telling you the risk is huge but it's not. It's all a big lie. There is no risk and there is no contamination.

Recognize the signs. You saw a spot. You got an intrusive thought that it could be semen. In addition, the thought caused you anxiety. Lastly, you at least wanted to do a compulsion to get rid of the anxiety you felt. Likely you've ruminate over it and at least contemplated cleaning things unnecessarily. 

Thank you for your reply.  This is where I struggle- when I don't know if it is OCD or not. I struggle to determine if it's a real threat or not.    That's why I came here to ask.  When I know it's OCD, and believe me there are many times, I know I should ignore it and move on.  It's when I genuinely don't know!  I just don't know where to draw the line sometimes. 

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I've told you the criteria you need to go through to figure out if it's OCD or not. It's fairly straight forward. Basically, every time you see a spot and you get the thought it's semen, it's really OCD up to its usual tricks.

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I find it hard to anthropomorphise OCD like it is doing things... up to tricks and whatnot... Although it is a horrible day when I feel like I have 'contaminated' mine and my husbands clothes by playing with our stinky dogs and then not washing the clothes at the right temp. and then having to rewash them many times - that's rubbish but- the struggle is real, dogs are filthy, it's hard to experiment with cleanliness when you have a baby... 

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Rub the baby all over the dog, don't bathe her. Face your fear.

You need to learn that OCD is telling you there's a huge risk but OCD lies all the time.

Edited by PolarBear
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Ok so when did you make the leap from hand wringing and washing and fretting to suddenly rubbing the baby on the dog? Was it one decisive moment? A big move? Or gradual small steps and small victories? Probably seems like a huge leap for most of  us. For me, I have a history of some (not all of course) of some of my worst fears either fully or partially coming to pass, I think that's why it's hard for me to take the plunge and suddenly drop old behaviours. It would be useful to me to hear someone else's journey on the progression from where I'm at to what you're describing 

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"Was it one decisive moment? A big move? Or gradual small steps and small victories? Probably seems like a huge leap for most of  us."

Hi Metal leopard, I suffered from a different theme of OCD - Scrupulosity but I can relate to your statement.  In my case, it was a decisive moment. I could not take the doubt and guilt anymore, I forgave myself and stop worrying what if I hadn't confess enough, what if I will be reborn deformed in my next life, for OCD-induced thoughts.

I realised if I carried on, my life would be wasted on time spent on baseless ruminations, guilt, fear and doubt. I had to stop ruminating and doing compulsive confessions. 

When I found it in my heart to forgive myself and let go of the guilt, the urge to ruminate and do compulsive confessions faded. I gave up bothering anymore about analysing the intrusive thoughts I  had in the past. 

But that only mark the turning of the tide, OCD doesn't just disappear or vanish. Intrusive thoughts still came with reduced frequency but I didn't fear them anymore, I finally really understood they were all mental chaff, nonsense; all the mindfulness meditation training I had was put to good use and with full effect because I had lost the urge to do compulsions. It was gradual but steady clearing of the mind, like the polishing of a dirty mirror that I regained my life from all the silly ruminations and compulsions.

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