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Traumatised by bins


Guest Phil10

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I am traumatised by the idea of bins. A few weeks back my partner walked past a bin with a shopping bag and I worried. Today I came back from holiday with my suitcase and walked past the bin so I was traumatised becuase that bin had a toilet plunger put in it a few months ago. Also at work they have bins and I refuse to empty them.

Anybody else worry about bins? Some of my family touch bins and don’t wash there hands this makes me very uneasy. The theripst wants me to hold a bin for an exposure sadly I won’t be doing this. 

My urge is to dispose of a suitcase and any shopping that walked past a bucket?

 

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Hi Phil,

firstly you see that your family members, your partner and other people use bins, sometimes don't even wash their hands, and yet nothing bad happens to them. So why would anything happen to you if you hold a bin? Also, I think it's a really really bad idea to follow that urge and dispose of the suitcase and shopping. Think about how many things you have been buying and then throwing away because you think they are "contaminated", how much longer do you really think you can keep doing that? 

I think you need to work on your exposures. If you hold the bin you will see that NOTHING is going to happen. 

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12 minutes ago, malina said:

Hi Phil,

firstly you see that your family members, your partner and other people use bins, sometimes don't even wash their hands, and yet nothing bad happens to them. So why would anything happen to you if you hold a bin? Also, I think it's a really really bad idea to follow that urge and dispose of the suitcase and shopping. Think about how many things you have been buying and then throwing away because you think they are "contaminated", how much longer do you really think you can keep doing that? 

I think you need to work on your exposures. If you hold the bin you will see that NOTHING is going to happen. 

:goodpost:

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I don't think anyone will be able to recover from OCD without facing what OCD tells them is a threat, and coming to terms with the fact that threat is false or an exaggeration. 

In my case exposure on violence and harm triggers was no joy, but it was successful. 

How other sensible risk-averse people see the threats our OCD creates is a great aid going in to ERP. 

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22 hours ago, malina said:

Hi Phil,

firstly you see that your family members, your partner and other people use bins, sometimes don't even wash their hands, and yet nothing bad happens to them. So why would anything happen to you if you hold a bin? Also, I think it's a really really bad idea to follow that urge and dispose of the suitcase and shopping. Think about how many things you have been buying and then throwing away because you think they are "contaminated", how much longer do you really think you can keep doing that? 

I think you need to work on your exposures. If you hold the bin you will see that NOTHING is going to happen. 

Yes it’s difficult becuase I would end up replacing everything. I do get the urge to replace everything now and again. Stuff I’ve not used in a while is a prime example I try and trance back it any germs got near it. But it’s hard to remember.

Basically I try and tell myself that the stuff wasn’t plastered over the bin, rubbed round the bin or dropped in the bin despite this my head goes on a journey saying how x area if the house will be dirty from those bins. Maybe other people put stuff from there toilet in bins too? Toilet water troubles me. I seen a picture online of a toilet bowl which broke and froze over on the cold weather this would freak me out.

But yes my issue is bins I mean what can I say over a decade ago I was a cleaner I used bags and picked up rubbish in a cinema hoovered and mopped floors I wore old clothes but I managed this job. However now it’s hard to imagine cleaning or touching bins. I refuse to touch a bin you have to lift a lid to get into usually these are bins in shopping malls reason is I worry about the germs on the lid. 

But yes my issue is I buy anything right now I instanltly believe it’s contaminated by dirty laundry or I have this bin issue so I need help 

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18 minutes ago, Phil10 said:

Yes it’s difficult becuase I would end up replacing everything. I do get the urge to replace everything now and again. Stuff I’ve not used in a while is a prime example I try and trance back it any germs got near it. But it’s hard to remember.

Basically I try and tell myself that the stuff wasn’t plastered over the bin, rubbed round the bin or dropped in the bin despite this my head goes on a journey saying how x area if the house will be dirty from those bins. Maybe other people put stuff from there toilet in bins too? Toilet water troubles me. I seen a picture online of a toilet bowl which broke and froze over on the cold weather this would freak me out.

But yes my issue is bins I mean what can I say over a decade ago I was a cleaner I used bags and picked up rubbish in a cinema hoovered and mopped floors I wore old clothes but I managed this job. However now it’s hard to imagine cleaning or touching bins. I refuse to touch a bin you have to lift a lid to get into usually these are bins in shopping malls reason is I worry about the germs on the lid. 

But yes my issue is I buy anything right now I instanltly believe it’s contaminated by dirty laundry or I have this bin issue so I need help 

Okay Phil you say you need help but how do you think you're going to get it? The only real way for you to function again is to be able to use bins, toilets, and all the things that you now deem contaminated. There isn't some kind of magic formula here, the only way to use bins is to just go ahead and use them. You really should do this exercise with holding the bin, it'll feel bad at first but over time it'll feel less bad. It's also amazing that you can draw on your own experience here, you worked as a cleaner and did this kind of stuff on a daily basis and nothing bad happened then, so why should it now? I think you just need to be brave here and take a chance on this!

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Exactly. OCD builds up layer upon layer of restrictions, like the layers in an onion. 

When those layers become too many we become totally overrun and consumed by it. 

That's why we encourage sufferers to challenge those restrictions using CBT. 

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Guest OCDhavenobrain

If I was you I would listen to that therapist. Do not let the OCD tell you what a therapist would recommend you to do to overcome your OCD.

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On 01/02/2019 at 20:43, Phil10 said:

The theripst wants me to hold a bin for an exposure sadly I won’t be doing this. 

You can do what your therapist suggests and get better.
You can do what your OCD suggests and get worse.

Those are your choices.  Its as simple as that.  

Simple, but not easy, doing what your therapist suggests will be difficult at first, but it will lead to recovery.  Doing what your OCD suggests is ALSO difficult, and getting worse.  Thing is, right now you are already miserable, you are already suffering.  You aren't willing to endure the pain that leads to recovery, yet you are willing to endure the daily pain that leads to things getting worse, because its happened more gradually.  Do you really want to keep suffering that way just because you've gotten used to it?

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On 01/02/2019 at 11:43, Phil10 said:

The theripst wants me to hold a bin for an exposure sadly I won’t be doing this

And this is exactly why you're not going to get well. Do you not realise the REAL things that are at risk?

As OCD progresses you can become delusional, which is way past the point of obsession

your relationship!!! Seriously think about that

the longer you do compulsions, the longer it takes to recover from OCD

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Does it help to know that most germs don't survive very long on surfaces? Or is it a disgust issue?

Can you visualize touching the bin? Or touch something that is around a 35 on the subjective units of distress scale and watch things go down? When my contamination OCD was worse than now I had to literally force myself to touch something, anything to break the cycle. My OCD is usually worse in the morning and I had to do this to be able to get on with my day.

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Guest OCDhavenobrain
8 hours ago, orange said:

Does it help to know that most germs don't survive very long on surfaces? Or is it a disgust issue?

Can you visualize touching the bin? Or touch something that is around a 35 on the subjective units of distress scale and watch things go down? When my contamination OCD was worse than now I had to literally force myself to touch something, anything to break the cycle. My OCD is usually worse in the morning and I had to do this to be able to get on with my day.

That won't convice and you shouldn't really try to convice yourself when you are suffering from an obsession. Because the OCD will always demand more certainty, thats the problem

Edited by OCDhavenobrain
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I too have a similar issue around bins...and I too used to be a cleaner!!

On ‎04‎/‎02‎/‎2019 at 20:04, orange said:

Can you visualize touching the bin? Or touch something that is around a 35 on the subjective units of distress scale and watch things go down?

I agree with orange--maybe holding a bin at this point could be too difficult if you have difficulty even walking by them, but starting smaller and working up to that would probably be a good idea.

Maybe you could work on some cognitive exercises with your therapist and then  write up a plan that would take it in increments...that's usually the approach I try and take

 

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Something we don't talk about really here is the useful tool of "imagined" exposure, rather like 

On 05/02/2019 at 04:04, orange said:

Can you visualize touching the bin? O

It can be a helpful way of building up to the actual real exposure. 

We are not going to get over our triggers if we don't disarm them with exposure and response prevention. 

When we have gone through this exercise, believe me - we start to get back what of our life has been lost to OCD - and it is simply wonderful. Things we were avoiding before are now no problem - its terrific. 

Edited by taurean
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Update

I have not been for therapy but I had an issue today 

I had to touch a bin as something at work fell in the bucket it was just paper waste nothing nasty but I was worried was I was on a till at work and couldn’t wash my hands and then had to touch my staff badge. So the issue is I did touch a bin but not for an exposure or becuase I wanted to but a situation occurred that my ocd couldn’t control. 

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16 minutes ago, Orwell1984 said:

You need to do more touching of bins. 

Absolutely. This is a necessary part of the therapy you are not doing, and until you do bins will be a problem to you. 

Non-sufferers do carry out common sense when touching bins. When I have wheeled in our household waste bin after it has been emptied I wouldn't then proceed to the supermarket to handle food without first washing my hands. 

But I wouldn't clean the front doorknob afterwards. Now an OCD contamination OCD sufferer would want to - they see chains of contamination that others don't accept. They would link up everything I touched between the bins and washing my hands as being contaminated and in need of decontamination. 

Edited by taurean
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On 05/02/2019 at 05:04, OCDhavenobrain said:

That won't convice and you shouldn't really try to convice yourself when you are suffering from an obsession. Because the OCD will always demand more certainty, thats the problem

Yes, there's a point where responding to the irrational, with the rational, only facilitates the former. 

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54 minutes ago, paradoxer said:

Well done, but the real world is full of 'triggers'. 

Tell me about it the harder I avoid stuff something else crops up there seems to be lots of every day germ related issues..from dog poo on a shoe to touching a wheelie bin all these issues cause anxiety 

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