Angst

Thanks for the reply. A nicely balanced approach given my previous/present dentist. He is very keen for me to sign an agreement before consultation that any treatment will be privately funded rather than NHS funded or partially funded. This never occurred before when he would outline NHS and private treatment options.

Thanks for your reply. Could be the case that there are different approaches to the same perceived problem. The gum shield sounds a really good idea. I will ask about it.

On Friday I saw a dentist under a long term insurance policy in London. I see him every six months. I am thinking of closing this insurance policy. He said no work needed doing. On Wednesday I saw a new dentist in the new place where I live. He is a NHS dentist. This dentist said that a molar was fractured and should either be extracted or encased in a cap. The dentist in London had recently stopped doing NHS work as he said that it promoted unnecessary work. The new NHS dentist said that the molar needed attention as a potential infection could occur. The NHS cost of an extraction is £75 or a cap at £326. The price mechanism occurs in NHS dentistry as well. I am not entitled to free care. Both say that I grind my teeth in my sleep. This causes damage. A well known physical feature of anxiety that occurs in an unconscious state - that is sleep. So I have a dilemma - which dentist to trust. I am tempted to go for another opinion. I am new registered with a new NHS dentist. To go to a private dentist would cost circa £150 for another opinion. There are no other NHS dentists in my new locale. Is checking an OCD feature? I am regularly using my tongue on the molar to test whether there is a crack? I am not sure whether there is a serious fracture when looking in the mirror. As I do not know what a serious fracture looks like. What should I do? Who to trust? And how to stop OCD from gripping me.

Out of sight, out of mind. I can understand why you are out of the kitchen while your mother cooks. You say that you need to intervene when your mother does something wrong. Do you think your notion of doing wrong is in fact an OCD notion? How were your shoes getting contaminated? Are there any ways you can reduce the demands of your OCD?

Glad I don’t pay the water bill! You could make the showering into an ERP exercise. A planned reduction in shower time.

I have skin cancer my kids have heart defects the house has subsidence there’s a dangerous freckle on my kid’s leg there’s an asbestos problem from two years ago the ceiling is not boarded You ‘spend your day believing this rubbish’. Because you believe these things they become important. You are on alert for danger - your health, the kids health, the asbestos danger, the subsidence danger. You say that you are hopping from panic to panic. I wonder if on either a temporary or permanent basis medication might help. Do these feelings arise if you have company at home? And are you able to concentrate on doing one thing such completing a complex form or fixing something?

Your anxiety appears to be house centric. You live in the house so there is constant stimulus to respond to. When you are on holidays do you have fears?

It can be difficult to deal with OCD in a social context. Hoarding up until 2013 used to fall under the OCD umbrella. A few types of cases still do. What many hoarders and their families say is that family therapy helps. Now, the body that recommends physical and mental treatments in the UK, NICE, says that family therapy can work with all types of OCD. A family therapist can help to resolve issues - a family group session or sessions where issues and feelings can be addressed. Do you think that this might work?

Hi Phil18 So your wife agrees with the move. She likes the new house. You like being house proud or being perfectionist. Sure things deteriorate over time. But you said in the past that you like touching up the paintwork and such like. When I moved house to a new neighbour I visited the house and neighbourhood on quite a few occasions. Visited the pubs and cafes. I did that with other locations. Followed market price movements. House markets like all markets have buyers and sellers - there is collective knowledge. Why are houses in one area so much cheaper than another area -there are reasons. Graffiti, broken windows, dumped sofas and beds on the street are signs of a problematic neighbourhood. I had lived in my previous neighbourhood, in a large city for decades, I knew where the drug dealing and prostitution and the cannabis farms were located and the nature of gangs in the neighbourhood. I had good friends who were social workers and councillors. They hear the complaints. So do your research on the neighbourhood. As Howard says you can’t individually change the neighbourhood But as the mayor of New York City once said fix the broken windows and such like - once the tone of a neighbour goes down it is hard to reverse.

Yes it is big decision. For two years you have been doing things that you believe kept you and your family safe. Given your beliefs you will be scared. Ideally, there would be therapy preparing you to change your thinking and step by step you would change your behaviour to test that no bad things will happen There is a therapy called CBT. Have you done any therapy? Or read any therapy books on OCD? But ultimately we take a risk and stop doing compulsions. Is there anything that you would feel more safe in not doing?

You have an ‘unsafe’ contaminated area in which people should have no physical contact. This is very common in contamination OCD where there is a ‘no go’ area. With the brooming the ‘unsafe’ area has now been extended to the whole house. You want to make the ‘unsafe’ area ‘safe’ by deep cleaning. In some cases of contamination OCD eventually the ‘safe’ area can reduce itself to only part of the property. You are hedged by a widening ‘unsafe’ zone. I think some of the best descriptions of contamination OCD written by observers and second hand experiencers of contamination OCD in the family and friends section of the forum. Do you think that your family members would say something similar to the descriptions written in that part of the forum? Most of your family and friends believe that there is no problem.

You have been doing compulsions for two years - you wiped the area every week and made sure nobody touched or walked in the area. One of your compulsions extended to others. Your rule was broken by a household member who broomed the area. The rule was set up by OCD. After two years of cleaning there would be no dog poo even if there was ever. Nothing is getting contaminated. You are in the midst of an OCD storm. There is no need to do deep cleaning. What do your family members and friends think of the situation?

I suppose there might be a risk of going down the rabbit hole. I wonder if posting about it is a compulsion. That feeds the obsession. What do you think?

I did that - doing things to avoid the checking/compulsions like not turning the tap on or staying in bed. Of course, the trick is not to feel the need to do compulsions. I wouldn’t compare your emotional display with another’s emotional display and jump to a conclusion. We have different ways of expressing ourselves. You are certainty displaying emotions at the moment. I think one of them is guilt. And if you feel guilt how can you be a psychopath?

Hi Hurting Yes, how are you doing. I think you are a honest and good woman. So take care of yourself. I have taken SSRIs and an antipsychotic - at the lowest possible dose - and it helped. They are especially good at getting some sleep. Having said that, I don’t know what you are on.

A person on this thread kindly volunteered to describe her experience with losing contact with reality - psychosis. But you did not want to know. It is quite common and occurs in things like deep depression with psychotic elements, taking certain drugs, sometimes in dementia. It does not mean that you become a sadistic psychopath. And you keep on saying that the things you fear are in your imagination - so how can it be psychosis? I think it is a deep seated obsession.

Hi Phil18 Moving was one of the best things I have ever done. Having a good environment does matter. The stress in communally owed freeholds can be high in negotiating to get things done especially as I was the only one who would talk and negotiate with everyone. My OCD time has reduced by 90 per cent. Hope you have made the right decision. Does your wife agree?

I have family in Canada and they have the same reaction - affecting loads of decisions including real estate. When do the tariffs take effect this month, next month? Hold you to your mental health!

Keep on the road - and well done for not picture testing!

I would start from buying either Break Free from OCD or Overcoming OCD. Both are written by reputable experts on OCD who are or have been employed by the NHS specialist units on OCD. I read both prior and during therapy and were immensely helpful. There are many on the forum who have contamination themed OCD. Your obsession is getting ill through things not being clean enough and your compulsions are doing all the unnecessary cleaning. You are also getting your family members to do much additional cleaning as well. It is very beatable. If you are in England you can directly access the Talking Therapies initiative. Reading about OCD on the help pages of OCD UK will also help. You can also contact your GP. The first step is to do CBT for OCD and the books will help you with this. In both of them there are discussions about contamination OCD as well as other themes.

I think that any discharge would be dependent on a safe place to go to. The lack of social care in the community means that discharge has been delayed in many cases in general hospitals which include psychiatric wards. The pressure is due to fewer and fewer hospital beds. Our hospitals have far fewer beds than our Western European counterparts, especially Germany. Even though you did not participate in the baking you were still an observer in another part of the hospital. Compulsions are strange - we do them though we hate doing them. Have you mentioned you being stuck in one place to your psychologist? As I said, I think it shows tremendous willpower albeit originating from OCD. For serious cases of OCD, the standard treatment is a SSRI supplemented by an antipsychotic (NICE guidelines). I would discuss the matter of the twitching with your psychiatrist. Perhaps he could alter the dosage. But I think none of us can make recommendations. Recovery from OCD waxes and wanes. You will get there!

Reading some of your posts it seems to me that you have a strong visual imagination. Images are more powerful than verbal thoughts. I have a problem with memory ‘flashbacks’ which can be interpreted as OCD, trauma or depression. Last time I saw a therapist she labelled it as depression. The reason I am saying this that you still need to discount the image or imagery. I over many years have learnt to discount the images. I acknowledge the image and do not dwell. It is very difficult to do. If I can do it you can. Last point, images carry emotions. Look at the great films and pictures. The emotions can be fear and dread but can be hope and beauty.

Hi Aquaman Just checked the figures. The comorbidity figures are very high. The highest is for mood disorders including major depression and bipolar disorder, followed by anxiety disorders. As you said or implied an important discussion.

How are you feeling today? Why not switch your thinking? Rather than attributing the way your relationships end to you being a ‘bad person’ switch your mind to the situations which give rise to this. I think talking to a therapist will help. I might be criticised on an OCD forum for saying this but I wonder if an interpersonal therapist might help. I have found this to be helpful when dealing with something similar. Sometimes it is good that relationships end, sometimes it is not. Talk through the issues. Therapy is about learning about new ways to think and act. Often things change - take a new look, unburden yourself and talk through things.