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Everything posted by howard
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I'm also not debating the dangers of asbestos or lead on here, there is no debate in 2025. You have to understand that the reason @Dakagraphics-David started this thread is because a number of people, were talking about their experience of asbestos from before 1980. But they were doing it on other people's threads. Firstly they should remember that people's threads are about their problem. So it doesn't help if they are being given misinformation and uncertainty and also they are actually using it as a vehicle to talk about themselves. Also it's hard as the OP's comments get lost in a load of posts and I have to try to find them. It dilutes the impetus of their threads.
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OCD Evolving (merged threads)
howard replied to OCDHELL28's topic in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
I know we can have a higher anxiety because our hormone/neural transmitters ecosystem is out of balance and that can be caused by a stressful chilhood. I'm wondering if for some reason you pereive yourself as a guilty person. Therefore your mind is continually remembering incidents through that guilt perception. Like you are looking for reasons to justify those guilty perceptions. Again something you can explore in therapy. It might help if you took some whole day breaks from being online, on FB, etc and just focus on yourself, center yourself and allow your mind time for some calm and peace. -
I think you just sound confused. The whole idea of an afterlife in the Christian tradition is a concept to encourage people to live moral and fruitful lives. It's like a prize. If they do that without harming themselves or others then they are led to believe that they will go to heaven, ie; the opposite of the thoughts in your first sentence. I think it is a good idea to decide what you believe in, it gives a certain structure to your life and can be integral to your identity. Personally I believe in reality> There is no afterlife but it gives people's lives meaning to believe that their lives here are continued after death. It also gives solace to those who grieve.
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I thought the last one on the list was useful and I hadn't thought of before. I thought of a conceptual idea. Find all the tens of thousands of images and sculptures of Christ that tell the story from conception to ever lasting life and put them all in chronological order on a video. I just thought a bit of art humour, Bat Soup. I think they sell contemporary art on their gallery website. There's lots of good art and inspiring ideas on there. Sylvia Baldeva Close to Face>
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I think it is very unhelpful to people with contamination ocd to be given more misinformation and uncertainty. The government and their agencies are very clear on the dangers of asbetos and lead and issue appropriate guidelines. So the dangers and rules are clear. Besides the anecdotes are so ridiculous as well as creating more uncertainty in people who require certainty to feel safe.
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I think a number of things can raise our general anxiety levels, like coronavirus for example and it's not easy for everyone to get back to feeling safe, lower the level. I think the internal issue is a feeling of lack of control with contamination ocd but it also has external implications. I'm now thinking along the lines of, instead of this idea of ocd jumping from one contaminant to another depending on situation. Think of all of them as GIT(generic imagined threats). If you see a bit of dust or fibre it's all just generic. Don't give it a specific name as that has wider connotations. So then it's really all about addressing the fear of contamination.
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Lovely painting with shadows I conned my way onto the 2nd year of a foundation in art that's why I was looking back to see what they taught in school. I found a GCSE list to help students set up a still life. On a different note, a picture from the Saatchi gallery which references Warhol.
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No. It was actually because the company who replaced my kitchen wanted to protect me and their workers. And they are all seperate companies, the asbestos surveyor works for one company, the specialist removal teams are from two other companies. It's an independent report. The report just helps me know which areas to not touch. I still have some old sheeting that I need to deal(been putting it off) with, but since coronavirus I've had a good 3 layer mask which obviously is designed to stop the fibres
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I was thinking if these companies had to clean up the environment, pay for the health care and compensation to those affected then all the profits and the industries them selves would be wiped out. There was never any need to use asbestos in our homes, there was never any need to put lead in petrol or paint. I think generally things are much better now. So I think now they have been banned, and I've noticed all building products have removed dangerous substances like solvents and regulatory bodies have much more power to test and ban products. Plus people are informed these days, empowered and can research anything themselves, rather than relying on industry misinformation.
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Just general post. I think if you do have contamination ocd then people can be dismissive of your concerns. But some of us also have contaminants to manage, or remove from our homes. In this property built in 1968 the surveyor has pointed out 16 areas of asbestos, 4 he organised to be removed because they were a direct danger and 12 he's talked to me about and put in his report to manage.
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I think it helps if you think about this differently. Why would anyone trust an industry who only have one priority, profit. And pumped out misinformation propaganda for most of the 20th century even though they knew the truth about the effects on our health in the 1920's. So humans have evolved over tens of thousands of years to exist in a natural environment; our bodies biology, our skin, our respiratory systems from our mouths and noses down to our lungs are all designed through evolutionary trial and error to exist in a natural world. Our skin certainly wasn't designed to keep out industrial chemicals which are found in a number of cleaning products and some pass right through the skin barrier. Our bodies and particularly our respiratory system wasn't designed to keep out dangerous substances that were mined from deep in the Earth. Normally we just wouldn't come into contact with them and although evolutionary processes are relatively good at adapting. Our bodies and again our respiratory system just can't filter out those tiny asbestos fibres and they get stuck in our noses, mouths, throats, lungs and stomach which cause cancer to develop. Our respiratory systems weren't designed to filter out lead dust, it accumulates in our bodies and is detrimental to our health and intelligence. Also all these anecdotes are nonsense. You have no idea about chemicals, toxicology or the long term health affects of these substances and that's clear from your anecdotes. It just sounds like you're repeating the same misinformation that these industries put out and trying to validate it with meaningless anecdotes. If anyone want to debate the dangers of these substances, the best way to manage them and protect ourselves from them contact; WHO, HSE, JUAC.
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I think with fear of contamination it's best to be able to decide if it's harmless which is 99.9 % true for everyday experiences. I think coronavirus did increase the fear of contamination among everyone but it also heightened the fear among those with this type of ocd to a higher level. So for instance going to a supermarket. Or if you've had a survey of your home and the results are negative. No threat of contamination. It is true that our phones, laptops, credit cards will show up this harmless contamination, but that's all it is.(they are the things they swab at border control to see if the person has used drugs in the last months).
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I noticed that all the people on here who have a fear of asbestos, also have youngish children. And it makes perfect sense that they would be at a higher state of alert(On my own I might be 30% alert to threats, but when my son was young, 70% alert for threats). So that sounds good if you can understand it's your fear of being contaminated and contaminating your partner and children and not focus on potential threats. Contamination is real, but obviously with ocd thinking people completely exaggerate the risks. It is only a real concern in very specific scenarios even though ocd thinking distorts that perception. You mentioned your counsellor talking about trust. I realised after talking to another poster that if we lose trust in something external it can also make up doubt the trust in ourselves. (Still something I'm thinking about).
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Another posters said something the other day 'I feel more in control today' and I think that's something to aim for, that's what it's about. And that's interesting about 'not feeling good enough', 'not trusting yourself' and how that plays out in your life, thankfully those are both things you can work on, hopefully with your consellor. When I read your posts I think as well as a heightened sense of responsibility to protect your children I mainly see that you are thinking along contamination paths. So I wonder if asbestos is just one of those type of threats that invokes fear, and you could have chosen any, but it's really mostly about the fear of contamination and contaminating others.
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Adult site addiction and ocd
howard replied to Virgilocd's topic in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
It's good you see it as an addiction. It's no doubt treated by specialists. It probably helps if you think about what the addiction does for you and why you need that. I think some content can just be escapist but some can indicate deeper issues that need addressing or processing rather than relying on the content. -
I think you've done the right thing and it sounds like a big step forward for you. Just carrying on and having a lovely time with your daughter. I think because of how much this fear affects you it is going to be a slow process, but I think once you no longer engage with your fears and focus on the much more joyful and real living you will be able to move on completely. I'd be interested to know what your counsellor believes is the root of these fears.
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I've been opposed to most chemicals and substances that industry produces since I studied chemistry and worked in analysis. I don't think anyone can be oblivious to the damage they've done to our environment, our wildlife decimated, polluting our food, our air, our water supplies and all of it contaminating us. I don't think people realise how devious industries are and to what lengths they will go to to protect profits. But for someone like me with contamination ocd, each time they ban a substance, withdraw it, withdraw medications, remove them from products, or our homes it's a big win. Another contaminant crossed off the list of possibles and with each one I feel that bit safer.(you wouldn't believe this asbestos report I've got. I think with a homeowners survey the surveyor will mention any obvious asbestos they see, but this is definitive and comprehensive). I understand why people who's knowledge base, mindset and cultural references are all from the middle of the last century still think that way and still believe the misinformation industries feed them but all it takes is a little objective research to understand they were lied to. Just for example research exactly what lead is, about it's isotopes, how it enters our bodies and the damage it does biologically and to our neurons. When they finally banned lead in fuel they said it was because it was leading to developmental issues in children, but that's just to convince people after years of being told it was safe.
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@Dakagraphics-David I'm glad you've started this thread. I've only read the title but there does seem to be a small group of people who are obsessed with their understanding of asbestos from before the 1980's. So giving them a place to reminisce is probably better than them doing it on other people's threads.(Frankly I never read any of it. I only read the threads where the OP's problem intrigues me and I hope I will understand more by talking with them. I also only read the OP's posts on a thread as they know what they are talking about). Here's let me try to get this going> I think what people(incl; me) have a problem understanding is that we are essentially programmed by the information given out when our minds are forming. By governments, industry, media. That programming forms their knowledge base and from there also limits their thinking. So corporate industries put out misinformation about the dangers of asbestos, lead, DDT, radiation, etc and if I put down the whole list of; substances, chemical, insecticides, medications that have been banned, well you get the idea. Why would they give out misinformation about say asbestos or lead for eighty years> profit. So in 2025 there is no dispute about whether these banned substances are a danger to our health. Thankfully most have been banned and for example they are now removing the asbestos from our homes because the dangers are accepted so that will also no longer be a threat to our health.
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Happy Easter to all the health/art support group. It's definitely good to have other things to focus on and have support. I think Christ must have been a much painted symbol. Here's a fun resurrection painting from Goncal Peris de Sarria 1430. He looks happy posing in an off the shoulder with flag.
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I think if you're waiting for therapy then you could focus on preparing, maybe keep a notebook of what's troubling you so you can make the most of the time. I think we live in overwhelming times in terms of information, videos and images and on some level our minds absorb much of it. I also think depending on your mindset at the moment, which is something personal you can talk about in therapy, it's possible to be in a mindset where you do perceive or look for a sexual element. It's just where you are at at the moment.
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I think many aspects of ocd are common among everyone, like the feelings, anxiety, fear, guilt,etc, and also the thinking processes, it's just that people with ocd take everything to the Nth degree. Plus the feelings and thoughts fuel each other. My mind never stops, but calming helps like the breathing exercise. I also find gaming because it's totally absorbing can shut my dam mind into that mode rather than repetitive thinking. So you could develop a strategy to either calm or distract yourself when it gets too much. Also there are parts of our minds that are superstitious and parts that use symbols rather than language. Have you talked to anyone about all this like a counsellor. Maybe they can help you simplify your thinking, understand why you feel guilty.
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Well it's good you're feeling more in control. Obviously there are different approaches to everything and you just have to find what works for you. Images do fade naturally but some persist I think because of the emotions and thoughts they evoke which gives them a power. So if you want to be rid of these images you could; try processing those thoughts and emotions(which is something we are continually doing anyway) and the power of the images will fade, also by absorbing lots of pleasant images we can focus on them instead and let the troubling ones go.
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Yes I imagine with all those conditions and ocd it must be challenging for you. It also isn't helpful I think if you then define your identity and limit yourself with those diagnostic labels. You have a unique neural structure, a unique brain structure and a vast store of memories, experiences, thoughts and emotions that define you, just like every individual on the planet. So I would work on building your self esteem; focus on your abilities, your intelligence, try to over ride any negative thoughts about yourself you've absorbed with positive ones(I know it's not easy, I know from personal experience but after a while you will hopefully feel less depressed). What is special about you, what can you work with and develop(if you can't give a fair appraisal of yourself ask some friends or family that like you). Yes I think they call meditation a practice for that reason. I found it helped me to just let the thoughts go and not engage, but it sometimes helps if you can just calm your mind for ten minutes a day(like a reset). It also makes you believe you can control your mind if you want to. I also just lay down and do some slow deep breathing and that just calms me emtionally with minutes. Be positive and you'll find ways to help yourself.