My main obsession is CONTAMINATION. And my main compulsion is Hand-Washing. I have suffered this kind of OCD behavior for almost 10 years. From age 16 until 26. I am male.
Although I do not wash my hands for too long until my hands bleed or crack, like many other OCD sufferers. But what I do is wash my hand as often as possible when I touch something I perceived as dirty (even doorknobs or my own laptop keyboard), almost anything outside my “Safe Zone”, which is my Room. As every objects in my room I already Sanitized, then I feel safe to touch it without so much worry to wash my hand immediately. The hardest thing comes when people comes to my room and sit on, let say my bed or my chair and use my computer and touch every objects in my room, even the door knob, I will always feel a great anxiety at the moment.
What I do after they are out, is to sanitize everything other people come in contacts with my objects in my room. I often use a damp cloth to wipe surfaces like chair or doorknobs. But when it comes to my bed, I have to change the bed-sheet. This is irritating, as if everyday other people do that, I have to change the bed-sheet everyday. Which I come to a solution.
I usually use 2 kinds of bed-sheets, one is for, let say “away”, for other people. And the other one is exclusively for myself. The same goes for my clothing. I never touch my bed-sheet with my cloth from outside the room. And I have to take bath before I change to my “clean” cloth and then I can use my “clean” bed-sheet. This kind of lifestyle is very tiring to me, as it renders me unable to socialize like normal people do. I often feel so much worry when people want to visit my room. As a result, I feel like a handicapped person. And have a very low self-esteem.
I wonder if this is really OCD or OCPD (Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder). Because I have symptoms like OCD, but my compulsion is quite different as I use my “own technique” to counter my obsessions as I have described in the above paragraphs.
Please anyone has the same problem with me which you can relate and possibly give advice and solution. I do really hope people who suffer from OCD would share their experiences here..
Thank You Very Much for your support..
Although I do not wash my hands for too long until my hands bleed or crack, like many other OCD sufferers. But what I do is wash my hand as often as possible when I touch something I perceived as dirty (even doorknobs or my own laptop keyboard), almost anything outside my “Safe Zone”, which is my Room. As every objects in my room I already Sanitized, then I feel safe to touch it without so much worry to wash my hand immediately. The hardest thing comes when people comes to my room and sit on, let say my bed or my chair and use my computer and touch every objects in my room, even the door knob, I will always feel a great anxiety at the moment.
What I do after they are out, is to sanitize everything other people come in contacts with my objects in my room. I often use a damp cloth to wipe surfaces like chair or doorknobs. But when it comes to my bed, I have to change the bed-sheet. This is irritating, as if everyday other people do that, I have to change the bed-sheet everyday. Which I come to a solution.
I usually use 2 kinds of bed-sheets, one is for, let say “away”, for other people. And the other one is exclusively for myself. The same goes for my clothing. I never touch my bed-sheet with my cloth from outside the room. And I have to take bath before I change to my “clean” cloth and then I can use my “clean” bed-sheet. This kind of lifestyle is very tiring to me, as it renders me unable to socialize like normal people do. I often feel so much worry when people want to visit my room. As a result, I feel like a handicapped person. And have a very low self-esteem.
I wonder if this is really OCD or OCPD (Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder). Because I have symptoms like OCD, but my compulsion is quite different as I use my “own technique” to counter my obsessions as I have described in the above paragraphs.
Please anyone has the same problem with me which you can relate and possibly give advice and solution. I do really hope people who suffer from OCD would share their experiences here..
Thank You Very Much for your support..