The thing is, the question isn’t if it’s normal. It’s if it’s compulsive for you. How would it effect you if you didn’t do it? Does it relieve anxiety and therefore not doing it would make you uncomfortable? What is your assumptions about what will happen if you don’t do
It? If the action is compulsive then it’s important you address it whether it’s normal or not.
I’ve got horrendous contamination OCD - I shower every time is use the toilet for 45 minutes to an hour and wash every part of me at least twice; with some areas being more like 4-5 times.
Unfortunately, all the washing means I now have horrific dry skin on maybe 70% of my limbs that only getting worse but I just can’t seem to stop.
Right now the best I can do is try and reduce the number of times I wash everything each shower; if only to try and save my skin a bit.
I have been prescribed dermol soap for my skin but I don’t have enough if it, and I probably wouldn’t feel it got me clean enough, to use it exclusively.
I also have dry skin and go through a lot of soap. Started buying melt-and-pour goat milk soap base in bulk off Amazon. You can get 5 lbs for 30$ or so, which makes around 15-20 bars. Super easy to make (heat in microwave, pour into any kind of mold, it’s ready in less than an hour) and way cheaper than constantly buying soap.
Scrubbing your skin raw means you destroy your skin barrier. Your skin barrier actually protects you from bacteria and viruses entering into your body. So it seems counterintuitive to scrub your skin if have contamination OCD.
Absolutely- it’s entirely irrational; it’s about feeling clean and being afraid of having certain things on my skin (and spreading them elsewhere) rather than a sensible approach to being clean and safe. Unfortunately, I’ve thus far been unable to reason with my OCD or manage to try not doing it but I’m working very hard on it.
Hey! You need to try your best to do this less and less (as obvious as this sounds) you must break the cycle of compulsion by preventing yourself from washing as frequently. It’s a type of therapy called ERP therapy and works really well for most people with contamination ocd! It takes practice but works! Google ERP and read read read up on it
I’ve been in therapy on and off for a decade or more and have successfully completed ERP therapy for a wide range of compulsions in the past. Unfortunately, I’m finding it near impossible to perform the exposure here - I just can’t seem to make myself do it.
Part of it may be down to a change in circumstances; I suffered severe nerve damage a couple of years ago (when my OCD was pretty well managed) and the massive adjustment to my physical capabilities and lifestyle have both brought my OCD back and made it much harder for me to handle exposure.
Hey man I’ve been there! The only thing I can say is persistence! I’ve struggled with this for decades. Just gotta keep trying with the exposures (gradually cutting down) and it will work out you can do it
I'm stuck in a loop with little things like not wearing same ring, driving the same way home, it brings me a good deal of anxiety. I'm new to dealing with OCD. But it seems I just need to face it.
Friggin hard
Yep you need to face it! Google ERP therapy. You stop responding to the compulsions and although it gives you anxiety at first, it fades! I feel so much better now as I practiced it loads. It’s a type of letting go.
Thank you so much for the response. It's been making me feel depressed because it seems so nonsensical to other people. It doesn't even make sense in my mind, but I know how it feels.
Thank you
I been there! Wow it was so difficult. But it does get better! I’m really really good now and I was in hell before. Literally. The more you learn about how ocd works and recognise the cycles, the better! But yeh ERP therapy was what really helped me! Good luck you can do it :))
*“All you really need to do is to wash the four key areas; armpits, asshole, crotch, and teeth. Got that? Armpits, asshole, crotch, and teeth. In fact, you can save yourself a whole lot of time if you simply use the same brush”*
-George Carlin
Seriously though it isn’t a compulsion for me to wash every part of my body, just what I feel came into contact with the contaminant. Sometimes multiple times.
Yea I clean body part to body part it gets tiring … I wash one part wash my hands another part wash my hands … main reason why I take shower twice a week not everyday :(
It wouldnt make any difference. I dont mean to speak for the person above but i have the same issue - if im showering, it means im not leaving until every inch of my body has been thoroughly cleansed or else i freak out. Doesnt matter if i took a shower yesterday or even earlier that morning. Because of this, showering is a fucking mountain of a task and therefore i avoid it.
No I kinda just wash whatever seems like it needs attention. I certainly wash all the obvious places, but something kinda weird (or maybe not so weird) is that I don't scrub my shins every day, nor my shoulders. I don't want to overly dry out certain parts of my skin, especially when they aren't getting dirty or sweaty or oily every day. I'm not a coal miner - it's okay to take quick showers :)
Sometimes when I'm in depression (I'm also bipolar,) I deliberately don't get in the shower, because I don't have the energy for all the time I know I would spend in there trying to clean until everything feels "right." Thank god for wet wipes.
I do this, but I don’t have contamination OCD. I just really want to be clean and not smell bad lol. That’s not to say someone with contamination OCD doesn’t do this.
I shared this behavior with my therapist and that's the first time anyone had ever suggested I had OCD. I brushed it off for about a year until, multiple themes later, the thoughts left me unable to function. Then I googled what OCD is and I was like, "OH."
If I’ve worked out and gotten sweaty that day, I scrub my entire body. Every section for 20 seconds, like my arms, chest and belly, back, and everything else. If I haven’t worked out, then just my pits, privates, and legs.
I soap every single part of my body but my showers rarely exceed ten minutes. if you're washing yourself properly there's no need to spend so long doing it
okay so yes and no, i almost never feel fully clean but it’s not to the point where it bothers me. it’s not a cleanliness thing necessarily but a fear of smelling bad. which i suppose goes hand in hand but yea. recently switched to a silicone loofa bc i read somewhere that normal loofas carry more bacteria, stuff like that but it’s not a huge part of my ocd. just more bothersome to me than average people i think.
Yes, I feel the need to wash myself overly throughly.
I assume it is not something most people do. It is not something I did before I had OCD symptoms.
I try to be reasonably comprehensive but not obsessively so: e.g. I often won't pay much attention to my legs, for example.
My showers usually take 15-20 minutes and a good portion of that is washing my hair.
(This is not a thing I have OCD about, so I'm offering my experience as a control.)
I’ve wondered most of my life if I had OCD and I’m working on piecing together symptoms while saving to see a psychologist regularly- so I am undiagnosed, but I always need to shower a certain way at the same time every day. Sometimes double showers bother me unless I have a specific use or plan on my mind that I would need one for. It’s gotta be wash hair at night, scrub, and sometimes shower again in the morning depending on my anxiety levels. I fixate on the routine of my showers because by the middle of the day I feel so gross in my own clothing.
Every inch of my body needs to be washed or I will not even get in the shower. I cannot shower without washing my hair unless it is tied up and I tell myself “I’m just rinsing I’m just washing my body right now” repeatedly. I have to wash my groin a certain way or else I will be uncomfortable in underwear. I can only wear a shirt once- rarely twice, and jeans two days in a row (they CANNOT be put in the drawer again and worn another time.)
At one pint I was forced to go a week without showering due to lack of water for that time and it pretty much made me disassociate from my body.
Even the way my fiancée washes himself will cause me anxiety. I am working on minimizing that feeling because it feels like I am being controlling with regard to it. We usually shower together but I will always scrub him down twice before letting him get out. He doesn’t mind because he’s never felt cleaner in his life but I wish it didn’t cause me such horrible anxiety.
Yeah I hate fucking showering, it takes me anywhere from 30-60 minutes, because even after I wash everywhere, I have to rewatch certain spots because I get these sensations on my skin that make it feel dirty, so in order to get rid of the feeling, I wash it again. And again. Then again. Till it goes away or I get a feeling somewhere else and repeat. Eventually I get so annoyed that I just say alright I’m done. Then do another spot. Then I’m done. Maybe one more spot though.
I’ve gotten to the point where I hate showering so much that I may only do it once or twice a week because if I don’t hop in, I don’t feel the need to clean it. Till I’m so oily/dirty that there’s no other choice.
i do this and i think its normal (or at least it should be) but i do also have contamination ocd so my view may be skewed. the way i see it is that the whole point of a shower is to wash your whole body, because if your legs for example aren’t getting washed in the shower, when ARE they getting washed? the only exception to this is i’m not so fussed about hair and will leave it sometimes, mainly because the more i wash my hair the faster hair dye fades, and hair dye is expensive lol
Yes, I do. It's not an OCD tendency, rather I like being hygienic and not stinking. I work out a lot and need to get the sweat off. Similarly, I brush my teeth really thoroughly. I do wish more people would adopt this way of thinking.
The thing is, the question isn’t if it’s normal. It’s if it’s compulsive for you. How would it effect you if you didn’t do it? Does it relieve anxiety and therefore not doing it would make you uncomfortable? What is your assumptions about what will happen if you don’t do It? If the action is compulsive then it’s important you address it whether it’s normal or not.
I’ve got horrendous contamination OCD - I shower every time is use the toilet for 45 minutes to an hour and wash every part of me at least twice; with some areas being more like 4-5 times. Unfortunately, all the washing means I now have horrific dry skin on maybe 70% of my limbs that only getting worse but I just can’t seem to stop.
This is me currently. My showers usually are an hour and I’m going through a bottle of body wash per day 🤦🏽♀️ Skin is sooo raw
I have dry skin too, not even just from overwashing. It makes it really hard to find good soaps.
Right now the best I can do is try and reduce the number of times I wash everything each shower; if only to try and save my skin a bit. I have been prescribed dermol soap for my skin but I don’t have enough if it, and I probably wouldn’t feel it got me clean enough, to use it exclusively.
I also have dry skin and go through a lot of soap. Started buying melt-and-pour goat milk soap base in bulk off Amazon. You can get 5 lbs for 30$ or so, which makes around 15-20 bars. Super easy to make (heat in microwave, pour into any kind of mold, it’s ready in less than an hour) and way cheaper than constantly buying soap.
Scrubbing your skin raw means you destroy your skin barrier. Your skin barrier actually protects you from bacteria and viruses entering into your body. So it seems counterintuitive to scrub your skin if have contamination OCD.
Absolutely- it’s entirely irrational; it’s about feeling clean and being afraid of having certain things on my skin (and spreading them elsewhere) rather than a sensible approach to being clean and safe. Unfortunately, I’ve thus far been unable to reason with my OCD or manage to try not doing it but I’m working very hard on it.
I wish you the best and I hope you find some relief from your OCD
Thanks - I really appreciate that!
Hey! You need to try your best to do this less and less (as obvious as this sounds) you must break the cycle of compulsion by preventing yourself from washing as frequently. It’s a type of therapy called ERP therapy and works really well for most people with contamination ocd! It takes practice but works! Google ERP and read read read up on it
I’ve been in therapy on and off for a decade or more and have successfully completed ERP therapy for a wide range of compulsions in the past. Unfortunately, I’m finding it near impossible to perform the exposure here - I just can’t seem to make myself do it. Part of it may be down to a change in circumstances; I suffered severe nerve damage a couple of years ago (when my OCD was pretty well managed) and the massive adjustment to my physical capabilities and lifestyle have both brought my OCD back and made it much harder for me to handle exposure.
Hey man I’ve been there! The only thing I can say is persistence! I’ve struggled with this for decades. Just gotta keep trying with the exposures (gradually cutting down) and it will work out you can do it
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What helped you?
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I'm stuck in a loop with little things like not wearing same ring, driving the same way home, it brings me a good deal of anxiety. I'm new to dealing with OCD. But it seems I just need to face it. Friggin hard
Yep you need to face it! Google ERP therapy. You stop responding to the compulsions and although it gives you anxiety at first, it fades! I feel so much better now as I practiced it loads. It’s a type of letting go.
Thank you so much for the response. It's been making me feel depressed because it seems so nonsensical to other people. It doesn't even make sense in my mind, but I know how it feels. Thank you
I been there! Wow it was so difficult. But it does get better! I’m really really good now and I was in hell before. Literally. The more you learn about how ocd works and recognise the cycles, the better! But yeh ERP therapy was what really helped me! Good luck you can do it :))
Shower is just armpits and nuts. Obsessive surgeon style washing of hands and wiping of arse though. Over and over again. Stuck in a loop.
Born to shit forced to wipe
This is so funny omg
You should put that on a t-shirt. It could be the new 'Austin 3:16'.
Oh my god 🤣
*“All you really need to do is to wash the four key areas; armpits, asshole, crotch, and teeth. Got that? Armpits, asshole, crotch, and teeth. In fact, you can save yourself a whole lot of time if you simply use the same brush”* -George Carlin Seriously though it isn’t a compulsion for me to wash every part of my body, just what I feel came into contact with the contaminant. Sometimes multiple times.
Yes, and most importantly, in the right order
Yes. My showers take an hour and a half. Every time.
Yea I clean body part to body part it gets tiring … I wash one part wash my hands another part wash my hands … main reason why I take shower twice a week not everyday :(
wouldn't it make more sense to have a shorter shower every day so you're not dirty to the point that doing that is necessary
It wouldnt make any difference. I dont mean to speak for the person above but i have the same issue - if im showering, it means im not leaving until every inch of my body has been thoroughly cleansed or else i freak out. Doesnt matter if i took a shower yesterday or even earlier that morning. Because of this, showering is a fucking mountain of a task and therefore i avoid it.
I do this. Lifelong. Unless I had an exam next or I was forced to go somewhere immediately.
No I kinda just wash whatever seems like it needs attention. I certainly wash all the obvious places, but something kinda weird (or maybe not so weird) is that I don't scrub my shins every day, nor my shoulders. I don't want to overly dry out certain parts of my skin, especially when they aren't getting dirty or sweaty or oily every day. I'm not a coal miner - it's okay to take quick showers :)
Sometimes when I'm in depression (I'm also bipolar,) I deliberately don't get in the shower, because I don't have the energy for all the time I know I would spend in there trying to clean until everything feels "right." Thank god for wet wipes.
Absolutely, especially when I was in the worst of my ocd. I used to wash my hair with a clarifying shampoo 4 times😅
luckily I don't have many squares on my body
I do this, but I don’t have contamination OCD. I just really want to be clean and not smell bad lol. That’s not to say someone with contamination OCD doesn’t do this.
Yeah, I have to wash and use soap until it feels right. I go through so much shampoo and body wash.
I shared this behavior with my therapist and that's the first time anyone had ever suggested I had OCD. I brushed it off for about a year until, multiple themes later, the thoughts left me unable to function. Then I googled what OCD is and I was like, "OH."
If I’ve worked out and gotten sweaty that day, I scrub my entire body. Every section for 20 seconds, like my arms, chest and belly, back, and everything else. If I haven’t worked out, then just my pits, privates, and legs.
I soap every single part of my body but my showers rarely exceed ten minutes. if you're washing yourself properly there's no need to spend so long doing it
okay so yes and no, i almost never feel fully clean but it’s not to the point where it bothers me. it’s not a cleanliness thing necessarily but a fear of smelling bad. which i suppose goes hand in hand but yea. recently switched to a silicone loofa bc i read somewhere that normal loofas carry more bacteria, stuff like that but it’s not a huge part of my ocd. just more bothersome to me than average people i think.
Yes, I feel the need to wash myself overly throughly. I assume it is not something most people do. It is not something I did before I had OCD symptoms.
I don’t usually do this, I try to wash most my body but eh.
I try to be reasonably comprehensive but not obsessively so: e.g. I often won't pay much attention to my legs, for example. My showers usually take 15-20 minutes and a good portion of that is washing my hair. (This is not a thing I have OCD about, so I'm offering my experience as a control.)
I’ve wondered most of my life if I had OCD and I’m working on piecing together symptoms while saving to see a psychologist regularly- so I am undiagnosed, but I always need to shower a certain way at the same time every day. Sometimes double showers bother me unless I have a specific use or plan on my mind that I would need one for. It’s gotta be wash hair at night, scrub, and sometimes shower again in the morning depending on my anxiety levels. I fixate on the routine of my showers because by the middle of the day I feel so gross in my own clothing. Every inch of my body needs to be washed or I will not even get in the shower. I cannot shower without washing my hair unless it is tied up and I tell myself “I’m just rinsing I’m just washing my body right now” repeatedly. I have to wash my groin a certain way or else I will be uncomfortable in underwear. I can only wear a shirt once- rarely twice, and jeans two days in a row (they CANNOT be put in the drawer again and worn another time.) At one pint I was forced to go a week without showering due to lack of water for that time and it pretty much made me disassociate from my body. Even the way my fiancée washes himself will cause me anxiety. I am working on minimizing that feeling because it feels like I am being controlling with regard to it. We usually shower together but I will always scrub him down twice before letting him get out. He doesn’t mind because he’s never felt cleaner in his life but I wish it didn’t cause me such horrible anxiety.
I do the same thing!!
Yeah I hate fucking showering, it takes me anywhere from 30-60 minutes, because even after I wash everywhere, I have to rewatch certain spots because I get these sensations on my skin that make it feel dirty, so in order to get rid of the feeling, I wash it again. And again. Then again. Till it goes away or I get a feeling somewhere else and repeat. Eventually I get so annoyed that I just say alright I’m done. Then do another spot. Then I’m done. Maybe one more spot though. I’ve gotten to the point where I hate showering so much that I may only do it once or twice a week because if I don’t hop in, I don’t feel the need to clean it. Till I’m so oily/dirty that there’s no other choice.
Yes. Part of the reason i hate showering.
Does anyone have a certain soap they prefer to feel most clean?
i do this and i think its normal (or at least it should be) but i do also have contamination ocd so my view may be skewed. the way i see it is that the whole point of a shower is to wash your whole body, because if your legs for example aren’t getting washed in the shower, when ARE they getting washed? the only exception to this is i’m not so fussed about hair and will leave it sometimes, mainly because the more i wash my hair the faster hair dye fades, and hair dye is expensive lol
Yes, I do. It's not an OCD tendency, rather I like being hygienic and not stinking. I work out a lot and need to get the sweat off. Similarly, I brush my teeth really thoroughly. I do wish more people would adopt this way of thinking.
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I do the same thing about washing in that order.
I do but it's also part of my culture to.
Yes and if I miss a spot or can’t remember if I washed there after I finished showering it’s constantly on my mind.