Ocd contaminated cupboard help

[Guest Phil10]

She claims she chapped the glass not the handle but like the letter box issue I can’t confirm.

[PolarBear]

You don't need to confirm anuthing Phil. This is a non-event.

[Guest Phil10]

50 minutes ago, PolarBear said:

You don't need to confirm anuthing Phil. This is a non-event.

But dog poo will contaminate 

[Angst]

Yes it is a good job that you didn’t replace the door.  And there is no reason to replace it now. There is no need to confirm anything including interrogating your Mum about her actions. Accept her ‘claim’. It is a non event as Polar Bear states. It is a OCD thought not a rational analysis to decontaminate your property. 

[Guest Phil10]

18 minutes ago, Angst said:

Yes it is a good job that you didn’t replace the door.  And there is no reason to replace it now. There is no need to confirm anything including interrogating your Mum about her actions. Accept her ‘claim’. It is a non event as Polar Bear states. It is a OCD thought not a rational analysis to decontaminate your property. 

I go back to the question how common is this people touching poop unblocking toilets putting hands in systems without washing?

[Guest OCDhavenobrain]

Nobody that wants you to get better will answer those questions. And it can't be answered, we don't know if something is contaminated. It really is impossible. 

Edited July 19, 2018 by OCDhavenobrain

[PolarBear]

Phil you are trying to rationalize your thoughts. They are irrational. You are the only one concerned that someone touched your door after picking up dog poop.

[Guest Phil10]

I’m feeling a little ocd too as my wedding suit has been stored at my partners parents house and last September I blocked a toilet there so I fear germs and worry on the wedding day I don’t feel clean . Now I could have taken the suit here but I feared with my ocd being bad I would probably have a germ issue here to not use the suit..

[Guest Phil10]

I fear it may smell sitting in a cupboard all year too I mean I could have waited to buy it but I wanted to be organised but my ocd is bad 

[bobfish]

Phil, I feel that posting your latest worries on this forum is becoming a bit of a compulsion for you. It probably gives you some short-term relief, but ultimately you need to try not to tell us all about every single worry you get.

As far as the wedding suit is concerned, it's all OCD again. If it smells a bit, just hang it out for a bit or something, and it will be absolutely fine.

[Guest OCDhavenobrain]

I share that belief. 

Do yiu want to change Phil or do you want to solve individual thoughts you get? Also i al a little bit confused what you expekt from us. To me it seems like you want us to reassure you that X and Y is safe.

[Guest Phil10]

The letterbox still worries me.

The plumber touching the taps and door handles mean I now wash my hands after touching them I’ve not properly cleaned it yet.

Eventually I get a new door anyway I mean yes I can touch stuff it looks clean, smells clean from the letter box but in my head I believe that envolope was from the wheelie bin there’s just no way to be sure.

I don’t know how I can get over it some days now I don’t feel too anxious about it other days it’s bad. The cupboard issue I posted a while ago at the start of the thread the good news is I don’t have these thoughts on my mind anymore and for weeks and many pages of this thread I believed the cupboard was dirty but these thoughts seem to have passed.

[Guest OCDhavenobrain]

52 minutes ago, Phil10 said:

The letterbox still worries me.

The plumber touching the taps and door handles mean I now wash my hands after touching them I’ve not properly cleaned it yet.

Eventually I get a new door anyway I mean yes I can touch stuff it looks clean, smells clean from the letter box but in my head I believe that envolope was from the wheelie bin there’s just no way to be sure.

I don’t know how I can get over it some days now I don’t feel too anxious about it other days it’s bad. The cupboard issue I posted a while ago at the start of the thread the good news is I don’t have these thoughts on my mind anymore and for weeks and many pages of this thread I believed the cupboard was dirty but these thoughts seem to have passed.

You are a victim to it. Some days you feel good and other days you feel bad. You need to be above it.

Stop caring about how you feel. The feelings comes from a fawlty brainscam. I myself recognize now how much i have focused on how i feel. 

Edited July 23, 2018 by OCDhavenobrain

[Guest Phil10]

I fear the letter box worry won’t go away anytime soon due to cross contamination worries from stuff coming in the letter box and my bank cards 

[bobfish]

5 minutes ago, Phil10 said:

I fear the letter box worry won’t go away anytime soon due to cross contamination worries from stuff coming in the letter box and my bank cards 

Something that sometimes helps me is that, if I think that something is 'contaminated', instead of trying to avoid cross-contamination, I deliberately touch the contaminated object and then touch other things etc, so that now everything is 'contaminated' and there's no need for my OCD to focus on specific lines of cross-contamination. It's a bit weird, but deliberately doing it seems to reduce my anxiety in the long run, even if it makes it peak at first. Don't know if it's something that'd work for you...

[Guest OCDhavenobrain]

Its exposure. There are no way around it. I am afraid Phil arent ready for change. Nothing wull change theb Phil

[Guest Phil10]

21 hours ago, bobfish said:

Something that sometimes helps me is that, if I think that something is 'contaminated', instead of trying to avoid cross-contamination, I deliberately touch the contaminated object and then touch other things etc, so that now everything is 'contaminated' and there's no need for my OCD to focus on specific lines of cross-contamination. It's a bit weird, but deliberately doing it seems to reduce my anxiety in the long run, even if it makes it peak at first. Don't know if it's something that'd work for you...

Everything being contaminated just depresses me I fear I will have a rubbish wedding and I will feel forever rubbish until I get a new door. I just don’t seem to believe that the envlope never came from the bin. I mean I had a book come through the door I since moved that around the house but I don’t really use it. The worst feeling is the bank cards because they are on me so I feel i don’t get a break from these germs I believe the wallet is dirty the cards and it makes me feel awful. Like my life is doomed. If I knew for a fact it was in bin it would be easier but problem is I believe it is fact regardless having something from the letter box feels awful. I mean I even thought about replacing the door but i would worry it wouldn’t look as nice a door, potentially I may have these Thoughts every time something comes in the letter box no escape even the therapy is not curing my fear!

[Guest OCDhavenobrain]

The big question is why you are here then. If it is a real problem, i mean you won't get a new door here. I know you already have answered it but it was not really an answer. In your case do i think that you would benefit from researching about OCD, because to me it seems like you could need a lot of distance from your thoughts.

Edited July 25, 2018 by OCDhavenobrain

[Guest Phil10]

1 hour ago, OCDhavenobrain said:

The big question is why you are here then. If it is a real problem, i mean you won't get a new door here. I know you already have answered it but it was not really an answer. In your case do i think that you would benefit from researching about OCD, because to me it seems like you could need a lot of distance from your thoughts.

Not sure hoping to feel better probably and I find it hard to distance myself from some ocd thoughts sometimes they last days or weeks and months on repeat? 

[PolarBear]

Even if the envelope did come from the bin, it's no big deal. There's no reason to fear your bsnk card or get a new door.

OCD is lying to you.

[Guest Phil10]

9 hours ago, PolarBear said:

Even if the envelope did come from the bin, it's no big deal. There's no reason to fear your bsnk card or get a new door.

OCD is lying to you.

But the issue is a blocked toilet plus bin germs is contaminated to me and my issue is things becoming spoiled cleaning may carry out a compulsion but that would be better than the stage I am at as I want to replace stuff not clean or ignore it

[PolarBear]

Phil, you don't have to explain to me or us that you think things can get contaminated. We get that. We really do. It is the way your brain works right now. It just happens to be wrong. It's not true. Your mind is lying to you when it says the door is contaminated. It is not contsminated to anyone else. Only you.

[bobfish]

11 hours ago, Phil10 said:

But the issue is a blocked toilet plus bin germs is contaminated to me and my issue is things becoming spoiled cleaning may carry out a compulsion but that would be better than the stage I am at as I want to replace stuff not clean or ignore it

You're still stuck in your old way of thinking. You need to start changing how you see 'contamination'. Someone without OCD would EITHER not think of the door as being contaminated at all, OR accept that the door is contaminated, because everything is contaminated, and not care about it.

You need to start telling yourself that you're wrong. The door feels contaminated to you, but it really isn't. Actively challenge those thoughts when you get them - you need to start seriously considering the possibility that you're wrong.

[Guest Phil10]

21 hours ago, bobfish said:

You're still stuck in your old way of thinking. You need to start changing how you see 'contamination'. Someone without OCD would EITHER not think of the door as being contaminated at all, OR accept that the door is contaminated, because everything is contaminated, and not care about it.

You need to start telling yourself that you're wrong. The door feels contaminated to you, but it really isn't. Actively challenge those thoughts when you get them - you need to start seriously considering the possibility that you're wrong.

The only good news i can say is I don’t have anything new to worry about or tell the theripst for the last few months it’s been issue after issue

My main issues are:

Fear of flying, Solipsism and the belief nobody is real, the letter box issue and that’s it really.

But yes that’s confusing saying it is or isn’t contaminated I probably believe it is but I’m not happy about it it’s making me sad and feel my life is doomed.

Its been a few months since I moved house now and I hoped everything would be better but I still feel anxious daily is this because the ocd thoughts remain? 

I find hand washing ect not too bad I can cope with that but when a worry takes over my mind and I worry about it every day the anxiety follows.

How can I deal with these worries? Theripst says write stuff down that doesn’t help I only did this to give her a guide to how I feel.

She has started working on exposure therapy in session 3 where do I go from here? She wants me to get changed out work clothes and not wash my hands she’s very keen to tackle my hand washing issue but I guess that’s normal as that’s common with ocd? Also my over use of toilet paper.

What can therapy offer me next? Is there a way to stop having these worries i mentioned some went away but the issue really is it went on about the cupboard for weeks I want to avoid feeling this way. And I have the worries like the letter box which won’t go away. To this day I don’t even know it’s a fact it came from a bin if it did my mum would be lying to me.

and how do I free myself of worries about life not being real it doesn’t trouble me as much as I have been busy at work but like I say since my last session the good news is no new worries I can go over existing ones longer to hopefully get her to find a solution and my fear of flying issue I need a way to get over that?

 

[Guest OCDhavenobrain]

3 hours ago, Phil10 said:

The only good news i can say is I don’t have anything new to worry about or tell the theripst for the last few months it’s been issue after issue

 My main issues are:

Fear of flying, Solipsism and the belief nobody is real, the letter box issue and that’s it really.

But yes that’s confusing saying it is or isn’t contaminated I probably believe it is but I’m not happy about it it’s making me sad and feel my life is doomed.

Its been a few months since I moved house now and I hoped everything would be better but I still feel anxious daily is this because the ocd thoughts remain? 

I find hand washing ect not too bad I can cope with that but when a worry takes over my mind and I worry about it every day the anxiety follows.

How can I deal with these worries? Theripst says write stuff down that doesn’t help I only did this to give her a guide to how I feel.

She has started working on exposure therapy in session 3 where do I go from here? She wants me to get changed out work clothes and not wash my hands she’s very keen to tackle my hand washing issue but I guess that’s normal as that’s common with ocd? Also my over use of toilet paper.

 What can therapy offer me next? Is there a way to stop having these worries i mentioned some went away but the issue really is it went on about the cupboard for weeks I want to avoid feeling this way. And I have the worries like the letter box which won’t go away. To this day I don’t even know it’s a fact it came from a bin if it did my mum would be lying to me.

and how do I free myself of worries about life not being real it doesn’t trouble me as much as I have been busy at work but like I say since my last session the good news is no new worries I can go over existing ones longer to hopefully get her to find a solution and my fear of flying issue I need a way to get over that?

  

She gave you task to do. I think it is pretty clear what you have to do. 
The problem here is that you want an easier way out, because you know that exposure will give you huge anxiety. I am sorry but there are no easier ways. 

Edited July 27, 2018 by OCDhavenobrain