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Flipfix

Bulletin Board User
  • Posts

    39
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Previous Fields

  • OCD Status
    Sufferer
  • Type of OCD
    Responsibility OCD

Profile Information

  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    Germany, Frankfurt area

Recent Profile Visitors

297 profile views
  1. Hey Dave, Sorry to hear that you are down. It's a tough place to be. Keep working on it. I really think your dad's behavior is normal and not at all gross. I would suggest you do exactly the same and get accustomed to the idea that this is normal and that you will, like everyone else, survive. Are you getting therapy?
  2. I had this sort of hygiene/contamination OCD, among many others, in the past. What helped me was to acknowledge that these extreme hygiene levels will only serve to weaken the immune system and are counter productive. Also , from what I understand, the skin has a protective coating that you don't want to damage by scrubbing it away from excessive hand washing. I prefer to rely on my immune system to keep me safe rather than above average hygiene ... and an immune system needs some exposure to be trained. I am absolutely not an expert, but I would guess some exposure therapy is what might help you too.
  3. Yes, I know you are right here. It is indeed difficult. Thanks for your support!
  4. One of the problems I have is that I see that in the world we have rules, measures and checks intended to mitigate certain risks. But then when I have some concern I should ignore it cause I find it intrusive. I find any kind of worry intrusive and unpleasant. I do see what you are saying and in the past the stuff I have obsessed about has in hindsight always been, while objectively possible, very very improbable and not worth the mental energy. Of course while in a spike it seems that this one is different than the past silly ones. I think what you are saying is right, just trying to make it into a tool that I can use with conviction if I need to ... And thanks to you all for answering :-)
  5. Looks like it ... thanks, you have had some good answers for me :-)
  6. I fully understand what you are saying but the things I obsess over are always objectively possible and then the problem is "how serious a problem would this issue be to a well informed person". The OCD makes it seem like a very real issue that any "well informed person" should care about. Having said that ... Yes, in general there are often clues that something is OCD thinking and the dangers are being exagerated. And experience shows that the "well informed bystander" typically does not care. This however I can explain away with poor ethics and insight on the bystander's part. Additionally in many cases sufficient checking/compulsions do sometimes lead to certainty and elimination of the danger but the personal cost is high ... So the question is, is it worth it ? Considering how such behavior is inflationary, rationally I would say not. But it remains difficult to decide between "accept that a house might burn down and perform one small additional check to eliminate the danger" ... and feel good again !
  7. Thanks for the reply ! It probably is black and white thinking but then how do you decide what to care about and what not ? Why is one "care" valid while others deserve to be dismissed?
  8. Wondering if saying "I simply don't care anymore" is the way to go ... For example (some apply to me and some inspired by stuff on this forum): "I don't care if my mistake causes a fire to burn down the house". "I don't care if I infected myself with Hep C". "I don't care if I caused an accident and didn't notice". "I don't care if I am gay". "I don't care if my sperm is on the door handle". etc. etc. And maybe the big one : "I don't care if some issue is making me anxious" What is worse living with the OCD or possibly living with some consequences of whatever ? I find this way of thinking quite relieving but of course, as usual, where to draw the line ? ... Why should I brush my teeth if I don't care about anything ? As always, intested in your insights !!
  9. Great post. I am trying this as well. It's not easy. Basically I say "f*** it, let whatever happens happen. It can't be much worse than with all these crazy thoughts". The real difficulty for me is deciding which concerns warrant attention and which don't. The stuff I obsess over is always objectively possible but typically not so probable. Obviously real life concerns exist and sometimes warrant some measures .... I guess this is where the "healthy twin" comes in.
  10. Don't try too hard. Try to have fun and go to dates with no expectation. It gets a lot easier as soon as you stop being so invested .... Just the usual dating advise here :-)
  11. Yepp. Can relate to this big time !! Make sure you are accepting uncertainty for the right reason ... so not because you are not prepared to accept it and just want to trick it into going away. It will go away, but only once you say : "I don't care, let whatever horrible thing happen" then it loses its hold on you.
  12. It's not just you. Suspect that this is universal with OCD
  13. You are posting on an OCD which I am lead to believe is a really good indicator that this is OCD :-) A new job is always kind of stressful. Think this is normal and I doubt anyone is going to be infected by this. But you will not be able to convince yourself that this concern is not legitimate, so don't even try. Face it head on. Say, "maybe it's true, who cares" ... and tbh. I really doubt anyone actually does care much. So stop thinking about this and now do the things you would actually like to be doing !
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