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No matter what I do I can’t seem to take shorter showers. Currently, I take up to 1 hour or more in the shower. My goal is to be 15 minutes, however it feels impossible to not take long in there. I used to listen to my playlist whilst showering and that helped me a lot. On the other hand, I stopped because I no longer feel comfortable taking my phone into the bathroom with me (chances of it getting wet/germs). So now I try to just be as quick as I can, yet no matter how I fast I think I am I always end up taking forever. This is obviously taking a toll on the water bill and occupying the bathroom for long periods of time. It needs to stop. 

Any tips? 

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Literally washing myself. I start off by washing my face, then I wash my body-starting from my neck and working my way to my feet. Areas like my private and bum I wash twice over to make sure they’re properly cleaned. However, everywhere else I just wash once. 

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Interesting. I wondered if you did a certain number of iterations per body part, which I have seen before. Not in your case.

Clearly, the length of time you spend washing each part is far too long. An arm should take, like, 15 seconds. 

So, you don't need to cut down how many times you clean a body part but how long you spend on each part.

Behaviorally, you need to cut down how long you spend washing in the shower.

Cognitively, you need to realize that you do not need to spend that much time yo be clean. Likely, OCD is telling you that you are not clean unless you spend a lot of time cleaning. That is a lie. OCD always lies.

Also cognitively, you need to put up with temporary increased anxiety from not spending so much time cleaning yourself. 

What's your feeling on how clean you need to be?

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I use to spend a calculated time on each body part, but I’ve stopped in an attempt to reduce my shower time. However, that hasn’t worked. I suffer from contamination ocd so being clean is key. Thus why I wash my lower regions twice over instead of once. 

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You can teach yourself that that sentiment is not true. Slowly, over time, cutting down the time you spend, getting used to that new, then cutting down some more.

Now, a part of your mind will tell you that new, shorter time is not enough, but you don't have to listen to it. You have a choice. You can choose to not listen. Doing so will make you feel uncomfortable. That's when it's so easy to clean more to get rid of the uncomfortable feeling. But you can ride it out. 

Repeated exposures to less cleaning will mean that uncomfortable feeling lessens. You get used to the new. Then you cut down some more.

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21 hours ago, Cookiedough said:

I just feel like the area isn’t clean unless I wash it for a longer amount of time

The critical part of that sentence is "feel like".  You "feel like" you need to wash for so long, not that you actually need to.  At the moment during this pandemic we are advised to wash our hands for as little as 20 seconds, with soap & water, to eradicate risk from this virus.  That is how little time it takes.  I take a shower in the morning and it takes me probably 5-7 minutes, including washing & conditioning my hair.  I do this simply to freshen up, not because I'm dirty or covered in germs.  I come from a generation who bathed once a week, we didn't become contaminated or ill.  Most of the population shower like I do and no-one comes to harm.  So this brings us back to the "feeling" that you have, the thoughts you have because of OCD.  At some point you created these showering rules and rituals to help make you feel safe, to reduce your anxiety.  The good news is that you can change these rules, you created them.  As Polar Bear has described it will make you feel anxious at first but this is something that you can tolerate.  Reducing the length of time you take in the shower is a good starting point.  Look at the cycle of thoughts you have when you think of (what you see as) not showering for long enough?  Those thoughts imprison us in that ritual.  If it takes you 1 hour to shower, make a decision that you will take 50 minutes.  Be aware that you will "feel" compelled to take longer, to just wash a little bit more.  Be aware that you will feel unsettled, anxious. ....but make a decision to sit with that anxiety in the full knowledge that this is OCD pushing the buttons, not a necessity to ensure cleanliness.  Do you think you could try this?

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