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Was it a bad decision to take this Uber?


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I ordered an Uber, and the passenger seat had a decorative pillow on top. The driver was sitting on one as well. 

I could have gotten a different Uber (it wasn't the cleanest looking car either), but I didn't. I say right down on the pillow.

Although it was a decorative pillow-- rather than the to you typically sleep with-- it occurred to me, it could have bed bugs! 

I read that bed bugs could be on any seat, but I'm not sure if it's more likely to be found on a regular car seat vs a decorative pillow. 

Should I have been more careful? This particular car, besides having the pillow on the seat, also smelled a bit like BO and cigarettes, and it looked pretty beat up. 

Would a normal person have ordered a different driver? Should I be concerned about bed bugs?

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I'm going to do you a favor and not answer your questions. 

Do you think the average Uber customer is concerned with bed bugs? Is that a big topic with your friends? Or do you think maybe this is an overblown reaction to a thought?

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20 minutes ago, PolarBear said:

I'm going to do you a favor and not answer your questions. 

Do you think the average Uber customer is concerned with bed bugs? Is that a big topic with your friends? Or do you think maybe this is an overblown reaction to a thought?

I ask myself these questions-- what would a normal person do? And I can never really answer it. In fact, the question makes my OCD worse. I know your trying to help, but you're asking just another unhealthy OCD question here. 

In this case, an average Uber customer would not expect to see a pillow on the seat. There's no way to know in unique situations. 

Edited by ineedahug
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Alright, let's take a different tack. Did the thought of bed bugs and harm coming to you pop into your head? Obsession. Did that thought cause you distress? Anxiety. Because of that thought and the distress, were you compelled to do some things to try and solve the alleged problem and alleviate the distress you felt? Compulsion.

You haven't talked about possible compulsions. Coming here was reassurance seeking, a compulsion. Did you Google about bed bugs? Has this occupied your mind a lot since it happened? All compulsions.

And you do know what others would likely do. You know how many times people around you have raised the issue of bed bugs in taxis. I'm betting it's never.

Edited by PolarBear
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50 minutes ago, PolarBear said:

Alright, let's take a different tack. Did the thought of bed bugs and harm coming to you pop into your head? Obsession. Did that thought cause you distress? Anxiety. Because of that thought and the distress, were you compelled to do some things to try and solve the alleged problem and alleviate the distress you felt? Compulsion.

You haven't talked about possible compulsions. Coming here was reassurance seeking, a compulsion. Did you Google about bed bugs? Has this occupied your mind a lot since it happened? All compulsions.

And you do know what others would likely do. You know how many times people around you have raised the issue of bed bugs in taxis. I'm betting it's never.

I think coming here is for clarity and perspective, while ruminating on it is the compulsion (assuming this is just OCD). 

What you're saying here is all very basic stuff (please don't take offense). You wouldn't go up to a mathematician who is working on a complex algebra question and say, "You just gotta solve for x". We all know what OCD is like. Many of us have read dozens of books on the subject, myself included. I've even read your books.

Yes it did cause anxiety. It doesn't change the fact that it is difficult to distinguish between an actual potential threat and OCD. Real threats can also cause anxiety and some sort of corrective action (which obviously wouldn't be called a compulsion).  

Do I believe it's probably OCD? Of course. But then the next question is, do I KNOW I am right about thinking it is just OCD? Of course not. I'm too aware of my fallibility as a human being. I could be wrong about anything. 

 

Edited by ineedahug
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Like anyone with OCD, you have to take a risk. There is no flashing light that goes off to tell you the thought is nonsense and you can safely ignore it. You base your decision on the fact you have OCD and this is exactly what's happened hundreds of times in the past. Intrusive thought > distress > compulsions.

As for simple answers, the longer I help sufferers, the more I realize that simple answers are best. Sufferers have a near universal propensity to make recovery complicated, when it's not. 

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4 minutes ago, PolarBear said:

Like anyone with OCD, you have to take a risk. There is no flashing light that goes off to tell you the thought is nonsense and you can safely ignore it. You base your decision on the fact you have OCD and this is exactly what's happened hundreds of times in the past. Intrusive thought > distress > compulsions.

As for simple answers, the longer I help sufferers, the more I realize that simple answers are best. Sufferers have a near universal propensity to make recovery complicated, when it's not. 

That's fair enough. I agree people do overcomplicate it. But why, given its simplicity, is it so difficult to recover? Shouldn't simple things be easy?

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7 hours ago, ineedahug said:

Shouldn't simple things be easy?

Running a marathon is simple.  You just start at point A and run until you reach point B.  Its basically the simplest you can make an athletic event.

Running a marathon is far from easy.  It takes months if not years of effort to get in to good physical shape and then you have to consider a number of factors in order to run the race in the best fashion possible for your goal (whether its to finish, beat someone else, beat your personal record, etc.).

So no, just because something is simple doesn't mean it should be easy.

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I have to say I don't necessarily think it is as simple as is often implied on here, if there are underlying cognitive distortions and/or comorbidities at play, which there are for many. This is why so many people require a therapist.  I don't think for many it is just a lack of dedication or hard work. 

Edit: as an example.  Off the back of a relapse at the end of last year, I was highly motivated to beat OCD.  I was "dismissing" the thoughts left right and centre.  However in reality what I was doing was pushing the thoughts away and distracting myself.  A subtle distinction but a deadly one, that taught my brain the thoughts were frightening and I needed to run away from them.  It was only through discussions on here that I realised I should be welcoming the thoughts in, and how to do that.  It is all very well saying "just dismiss the thoughts" but how to do that is not necessarily simple and I think sometimes valid questions can get shut down as over-complicating things.  I like to think I am reasonably intelligent, I have a lot of knowledge about OCD and I am highly motivated to do whatever it takes to get rid of it.  But it is only through conversations and insights on this forum that I have been able to find the right approach, and I am now doing much much better as a result.  Those conversations and insights could be called over-complicating things but I think beating OCD can be complicated, and just because it is simple for one person does not necessarily mean it is for someone else.  

I think even experts disagree on the best way to go about treating OCD - so if even they can't agree on a simple approach then I don't think we can say here that recovery is simple, it's just a matter of doing it. 

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