Shards of glass-

[BelAnna]

My OCD is terrible at the moment.

The other day I broke a glass. I thought at the time that it had just broken on the kitchen surface and seemed to break into four or five pieces with a few small shards.

I then found a very long sharp shard in the crockery cupboard the next morning and then another shard in the crockery cupboard  that evening. I had been using plates and bowls that had been right next to the glass shards (without realising). I'm now really worried that my dog might have ingested glass when I prepared her food.

This morning I got some rice out that had been in the fridge, next to where a jug had been in the fridge. The jug had originally been next to a plate that had glass on it. I am now worried that there might have been glass on the bottom shelf of the fridge and that it transferred to the bag of rice. 

I realize that this sounds like OCD logic but the fact that the glass really is in the crockery cupboard (and possibly cutlery draw, which is above the crockery cupboard) is driving me crazy!

Does anyone else have fears involving glass?  or know what to do about this?

 

[Gemma7]

Don't check for glass, stop ruminating about if there is glass somewhere. Assume what you found was all that was left of the glass bits, otherwise OCD will get worse and you'll feel more doubt.

You just have to wait to see if something happens, you can't always be on the look out for everything that can ever go wrong. It's not your responsibility to do that. 

[BelAnna]

Thanks Gemma. 

I think that I probably do still need to check the crockery cupboard as it's not been checked because I couldn't face it. Had they been small shards of glass I'd be less concerned but one was over an inch long and very sharp. 

[snowbear]

12 hours ago, BelAnna said:

Had they been small shards of glass I'd be less concerned but one was over an inch long and very sharp. 

Oh, the nonsense we tell ourselves to justify the degree of anxiety! 

Trouble is, telling ourselves things like this keeps your brain believing there was a genuine risk you were right to worry over.  

The fact is you worried because your response to any kind of perceived threat is to feel anxious. Then you justify the anxiety (explain it to yourself) by looking for reasons why you feel as you do (it was sharp, it was big...) 

This is partly how OCD keeps us going round in circles. To break the cycle you need to get your head around the idea that what's happening is:

perceived threat >> anxiety response >> look for explanations of the anxiety>> confirms belief the perceived threat was genuine risk>> reinforces anxiety as the 'correct' response next time

Instead you want to try:

perceived threat >> anxiety response >> cognitive awareness that feeling anxiety is a learned response and doesn't mean there was a genuine threat >> confirm this understanding with behavioural change (not doing compulsions) >> weakens anxiety response next time a threat is perceived>> gradually change what is perceived as a threat

For you BelAnna, you have the belief that anything which could harm your dog is a thereat. You've become so fearful of the awfulness of that happening that you perceive threats in normal things that aren't realistically a risk but can't be classed as 110% safe (because nothing is.) You've got into the habit of explaining /rationalising your fear by telling yourself 'but this could poison my dog/cause harm' . Justifying the anxiety in that way keeps you believing this world is a dangerous place for dogs. 

An asteroid could drop out of the sky and land on you, but that doesn't justify a life of always looking at the sky for falling asteroids.  

[Emsie]

Hi BelAnna, I hope you are feeling ok about things now and your responses here have helped you. X

Hi Snowbear, I hope you and Belanna don't mind me asking you this on Belanna's thread. 

Does what you wrote, that I've quoted below, apply to any worry/fear? And by worry I don't mean concrete worries. (When I quoted what you said, I deleted the content from what you wrote above that was specific to Belanna's worry.) Does what you said, that I've quoted below, apply to any worry/fear? X

8 hours ago, snowbear said:

Oh, the nonsense we tell ourselves to justify the degree of anxiety! 

Trouble is, telling ourselves things like this keeps your brain believing there was a genuine risk you were right to worry over.  

The fact is you worried because your response to any kind of perceived threat is to feel anxious. Then you justify the anxiety (explain it to yourself) by looking for reasons why you feel as you do 

This is partly how OCD keeps us going round in circles. To break the cycle you need to get your head around the idea that what's happening is:

perceived threat >> anxiety response >> look for explanations of the anxiety>> confirms belief the perceived threat was genuine risk>> reinforces anxiety as the 'correct' response next time

Instead you want to try:

perceived threat >> anxiety response >> cognitive awareness that feeling anxiety is a learned response and doesn't mean there was a genuine threat >> confirm this understanding with behavioural change (not doing compulsions) >> weakens anxiety response next time a threat is perceived>> gradually change what is perceived as a threat

An asteroid could drop out of the sky and land on you, but that doesn't justify a life of always looking at the sky for falling asteroids.  

 

Edited June 14, 2018 by Emsie

[snowbear]

Yes, Emsie. It applies to every OCD worry/fear whatever the context, whatever our individual 'theme'.  

 

[Emsie]

3 minutes ago, snowbear said:

Yes, Emsie. It applies to every OCD worry/fear whatever the context, whatever our individual 'theme'.  

 

Thank you so much snowbear, I really appreciate you getting back to me. I found your explanation so helpful and it's brilliant so a huge thank you. X

[PolarBear]

It actually applies to every worry, OCD initiated or not.

Think about it for a moment. Give me one example where worrying/ruminating caused a positive effect on a given situation.

[Emsie]

9 hours ago, PolarBear said:

It actually applies to every worry, OCD initiated or not.

Think about it for a moment. Give me one example where worrying/ruminating caused a positive effect on a given situation.

You are right of course. Thank you PolarBear. 

[BelAnna]

On 13/06/2018 at 23:12, snowbear said:

Oh, the nonsense we tell ourselves to justify the degree of anxiety! 

Trouble is, telling ourselves things like this keeps your brain believing there was a genuine risk you were right to worry over.  

The fact is you worried because your response to any kind of perceived threat is to feel anxious. Then you justify the anxiety (explain it to yourself) by looking for reasons why you feel as you do (it was sharp, it was big...) 

This is partly how OCD keeps us going round in circles. To break the cycle you need to get your head around the idea that what's happening is:

perceived threat >> anxiety response >> look for explanations of the anxiety>> confirms belief the perceived threat was genuine risk>> reinforces anxiety as the 'correct' response next time

Instead you want to try:

perceived threat >> anxiety response >> cognitive awareness that feeling anxiety is a learned response and doesn't mean there was a genuine threat >> confirm this understanding with behavioural change (not doing compulsions) >> weakens anxiety response next time a threat is perceived>> gradually change what is perceived as a threat

For you BelAnna, you have the belief that anything which could harm your dog is a thereat. You've become so fearful of the awfulness of that happening that you perceive threats in normal things that aren't realistically a risk but can't be classed as 110% safe (because nothing is.) You've got into the habit of explaining /rationalising your fear by telling yourself 'but this could poison my dog/cause harm' . Justifying the anxiety in that way keeps you believing this world is a dangerous place for dogs. 

An asteroid could drop out of the sky and land on you, but that doesn't justify a life of always looking at the sky for falling asteroids.  

Thank you Snowbear! You are definitely right and I need to focus on the problem being the OCD/anxiety rather than the perceived risk.  Thanks for your help!