PolarBear

That's good. Researching is a common compulsion with this type of OCD. Try to leave this alone.

Annie, no answer to your last question is going to solve this. The world's utmost authority on asbestos could tell you everything is peachy but OCD will continue to hammer you with obsessions and doubt. This won't stop until you make it stop. This entire thread is a big compulsion for you. Lots of reassurance given. Has it done any good? No. Put your foot down. End this. Grit your teeth and work hard to end your compulsions. No more Googling. No more seeking reassurance here. Work on stopping your rumination. This isn't about asbestos. It's about OCD.

It's really simple. Take the antibiotics. All of them. As prescribed. All the what ifs that have popped up are pure nonsense. That you are listening to them and going round and round in your head is OCD.

It is all OCD. You are fixated on a nothing. That's what OCD does. It takes a nothing and makes it out to be the worst thing possible. How many times have you looked at that comic to gauge your reaction? Testing, a compulsion. Or conversely, avoid it altogether? Avoidance, a compulsion. Lastly, why wouldn't a 17 yo find a 15 yo attractive? I'm almost 60. I can find teenagers attractive. It doesn't mean anything, unless you allow OCD to give it meaning. This is exactly what OCD does. Take a few deep breaths and get on with your day.

Very well done, snowbear. Excellent post.

Maybe what you need is a more holistic approach. There may be something going on with you that is affecting your ability to engage in CBT. Comorbidities are common with OCD. At the end of the day, you have to stop reacting to your obsessions in order to recover. If there's another therapy out there that accomplishes that, great. I haven't found it.

We bang the drum because, basically, that's all there is. There are other things you can do, like take meds, mindfulness, that can help, but CBT is the core treatment for OCD.

I don't want to come across that I advocate CBT as the only thing you need. It is the core in the toolbox that we have. Cognitive Therapy and Behavioral Therapy are not rigid. There are a wide variety of methods within each that can e taught. Even ERP, the devil's therapy for some, can be tailored for each sufferer. Then there are adjunct methods that can be utilized. CBT on its own doesn't always address the real problem of anxiety that comes with OCD. Most know they have to stop compulsions so why don't they do it? Because they can't handle the ensuing anxiety that always follows. Learning to deal with anxiety in a healthy way can really help in recovery.

There are two things you need to do to recover. Change the way you think about your obsessions and change the way you behave as a result of having obsessions. Even simpler, change the way you react to obsessions. This organization emphasizes CBT for OCD, not just ERP. ERP is great and wonderful but it does not focus on getting sufferers to change their thinking, which is what Cognitive Therapy does... the C in CBT. Behavioral Therapy (the B in CBT) is about changing your behavior. Primarily, it is about reducing and stopping compulsions. You can learn to reduce and delay compulsions over time. You can also do ERP, which is a specific Therapy to give you practice in not doing compulsions. CBT works, under certain conditions. The more severe the case of OCD, the more challenging CBT becomes. Snowbear has listed some of the common reasons why CBT may not work. They boil down to a therapist not teaching a sufferer properly or the sufferer not fully doing what needs to be done.

Start leaving her alone for short periods of time. Then over time, increase the separation length.

Did you ever think you watch her TOO closely?

There's nothing wrong with positive affirmations. However, if you are doing them in response to an obsession and the distress it causes then it is a compulsion. You would be doing it to alleviate the distress you feel.

I come from somewhat similar circumstances. I not only overcame them, but I don't give a hoot what people think/say about me. You can get to a point where you realize the event was nothing but the hubbub was entirely because you were fixated on the event.

Awful, isn't it? Typical of OCD to latch onto a nonevent from decades ago and make it out to be a catastrophe. What makes this so much worse than it needs to be is your compulsions. Like going over it in your head a million times. It solves nothing. It creates anxiety and depression. You said that when you play it over in your head it hurts and hurts when you don't. The difference is that it will continue to hurt so long as you do such compulsions but the hurt will diminish over time if you avoid compulsions.

Yes, I can read. So will you now go after the other people who did not specifically answer that question? We like to say here, and I emphasize we, is that if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it's probably a duck. We have an OCD sufferer here who is exhibiting symptoms including intrusive thoughts that cause distress, doubt and compulsions. Those are the hallmarks of OCD. I am very comfortable treating this as OCD and will encourage ironborn to do the same. This all comes with experience, which you may gain over time.

Strange how you single me out for not being a medical professional when we are on a forum where no one is a medical professional. I can make such a statement, as many others do, based on my own 40-year history with OCD and assisting hundreds of sufferers over 8 years on this forum. Have a great day.

You're have to come to grips with that. This is pure vanilla, plain old OCD wrapping itself up in new packaging. Many times I see sufferers freaked out because their OCD is making it seem like they like something twisted or bizarre. Nothing unique about it. One thing is you say you test yourself. Beyond ruminating, there's your compulsion.

I realize you feel that way but it's just another dirty OCD trick. There's nothing new here. I've seen it many times. This is just OCD. It will market itself as something new and dangerous but at it's core it's just plain, old, everyday OCD.

You will not figure it out by doing more compulsions. That I can guarantee you.

So now, stop researching. Stop looking up rabies. Turn your attention to other things. And good on you for not going to a doctor.

See, you're already in the all too familiar trap of ruminating, coming here for reassurance and who knows what else. Oh, how many times have we heard, but this time is different. Do you have obsessions that cause you distress? Are you experiencing doubt? Do you do rituals or mental rituals to alleviate the distress caused by obsessions? There's your checklist. All the rest of your explanation doesn't matter.

You are NOT helping the situation. You are making it worse. The OP is a long time forum user who is known to have OCD. This fear of rabies is just that, a fear. There is nothing real about it. One can tell that by the original post. There is nothing there. No evidence. Just a thought that has now run amok.

STOP trying to figure it out. That's what OCD wants. It has sucked you back in and wants you to endlessly ruminate without finding an answer. Leave it alone. Completely. Refuse to get into mind debates over this... such debates will lead nowhere.

Thank you for agreeing with me. "Our brain functions vary by age". They don't suddenly turn on at a specific age.

You keep saying this but it is not true. It's not like a switch gets flipped at age 25. You could say that, on average, the neocortex is not fully developed until age 25. As kids grow, they become capable of using logic, long before 25.