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Washing clothing doubts


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Hello 

I have a few doubts and obsessions about doing the laundry which drive me crazy. Here is one of them. I know it might seem weird but these doubts feel so real. It feels like a thousand bullies and you feel so powerless. You get new obsessions/doubts/fears or the old ones become much worse and then you have a whole set of behaviours to control them. You get constantly exhausted/fatigued from thinking about the obsessions/doubts and from the compulsions. 
 

This particular one is washing clothes inside out. So if for example I put a t shirt or any other garment (trousers, shirts, bedsheets, underwear etc.) in the wash inside out will the outside of it get washed is well and vice versa? I I have fears that whatever side I put it in - outside/inside out the other side won’t be cleaned. I also have doubts/fears if the pockets will be washed. 

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1 hour ago, Saffron37 said:

Hi Nikola! I'm sorry to hear you're struggling, that sounds really difficult and unpleasant. Are you getting any help for your OCD at present?

Hello 

Thanks for replying. I was getting help in the past. I had nearly 25 CBT sessions but I don’t think it was with the right therapist because I only found out after that the main treatment for OCD is ERP and we didn’t do that. This was in 2019 since then it’s got much worse. I also got physical problems now like incontinence and back problems. I don’t eat properly. I can’t cook because I will have to wash whatever I’m using and that takes me ages. Last time it took me 2 hours to cook a simple pasta meal. Have really bad skin problems from the washing - both of arms and hands are dark red and skin is peeling of. I’ve tried 3 SSRIS  all on maximum dose but they didn’t work. Now they put me on Clomipramine which I’m going to start this week. If that doesn’t work then don’t know what I’m going to do, so hard to hold on.

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I'm so sorry you're in so much pain, Nikola. That sounds absolutely horrible.

But I hear some really good news--the really good news I hear is that you haven't tried ERP! And ERP, to be frank, works. So you haven't given the very best treatment a go, yet--that's tons of reasons to be hopeful.

I think you'd probably also benefit a whole lot from a book called Brain Lock, which really walks you through how specific parts of the brain misfire to cause OCD symptoms, how ERP works in a very concrete way, etc. That makes ERP a whole lot easier because resisting obsessions and compulsions is way easier when you have a really specific understanding of where those things are coming from. 

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Nicola, in some places ERP is the only treatment offered for OCD but it's like eating the icing without the cake.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is the gold standard treatment for OCD. Yes, ERP is part of the behavioral side, but so too is reducing compulsions. The cognitive part teaches you to think differently about the thoughts so they don't upset you so. The cognitive part is the cake, ERP the icing.

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On 22/10/2021 at 20:45, PolarBear said:

Nicola, in some places ERP is the only treatment offered for OCD but it's like eating the icing without the cake.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is the gold standard treatment for OCD. Yes, ERP is part of the behavioral side, but so too is reducing compulsions. The cognitive part teaches you to think differently about the thoughts so they don't upset you so. The cognitive part is the cake, ERP the icing.

Yes, maybe your right. A lot of my last sessions were psychoanalysis. But what about washing the clothes doubts. This is where I waste most water because I got the sort of doubts I mentioned in the post and many more.

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On 22/10/2021 at 08:44, Lollipop said:

No so weird I've had the same thought just yesterday!

I don't know so I use the washing machine as usual. It's good enough for everyone else. 

I also get doubts that I haven’t put in enough detergent. Then I get doubts that I have. OCD is a BLEEP will tell you one thing and then the opposite which confuses me. 

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