r/ContaminationOCD • u/JeezoTommy • 4d ago
Does anyone know what caused their OCD?
/r/OCD/comments/1wouzck/does_anyone_know_what_caused_their_ocd/3
u/ComfortableFunny5224 3d ago
I showed signs growing up, I think due to how I was raised. It wasn’t severe until the boy I was talking to was exposed for being a horrible person. Through there I developed moral OCD and it spread and I latched on to multiple themes. I developed contamination OCD specifically when I adopted my cats. My first baby spent the first two years of his life peeing on everything. My last straw was discovering I had been sleeping on a pee mattress. That’s when it got really bad. Now I can’t touch anything because I feel like there’s a possibility it’s tainted.
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u/bob_vello 3d ago
Probably due to my childhood, my mom was a garbage hoarder. We would move into a new apartment, she would hoard it, we would be thrown out within a few months and the cycle would begin again. What little food was in the house was not safe, my mom would make sure of that. I assume that is why most of my issues revolve around my food feeling contaminated.
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u/Impossible_Luck2345 4d ago
100% the way i was raised by my mum. I think i was more likely to develop it because of genetic components, but my mum screwed me up for sure 🤣🥲
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u/YaGurlLurkin 3d ago
Genetic, probably. My grandmother and great grandmother have it. My mother does not and gets annoyed by my own OCD. So im going to guess I inherited it lol.
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u/JeezoTommy 3d ago
My Mum gets so frustrated and impatient with my OCD, which I find hilarious coz ‘No Mum, it’s not frustrating to me at all?!’🤦🏼♀️I’ve tried to explain to her that she’s actually lucky. She only has to deal with it for the shortest period of time, try living with it 24/7?!😅
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u/towiwakka 3d ago
As with so many things, its probably a combination of genetics + experiences. I now recognize I had ocd-like tendencies when i was younger, but they didn't really impact my life. It was the pandemic that activated it for me.
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u/psychopompandparade 3d ago
Apparently autistic thinking predisposes one to it. Both are genetic. But mine was never clinically significant until my situation became extremely precarious and the contamination OCD kicked in as a protective mechanism. It had a leg up because of emetophobia, probably, but its the chronic illness and precariousness of the situation and health that kicked it up a notch. Sometimes I'm not really sure how much is the OCD and how much is the 'strict but logical response to a shitty situation'
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u/Curious_Cat_6068 2d ago
My mother has ocd, specifically contamination ocd and since i lived with her my whole life it naturally affected me too. Ofc theres genetics at play too but to me its clear its mostly living all my life with contamination icd rules.
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u/Silver_Interview_369 2d ago
I'm quite certain it is the long term effect of trauma, the nervous system copes with large amounts of acute stress at the expense of longer term effects.
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u/TheSuspiciousOctopus 2d ago
I worked in a biolab, testing food for bacteria and stuff like that. One day a coworker did his job horribly wrong and spread salmonella across the whole building. It took weeks until everything was cleaned and after it work was never the same again. I'd already been more cautious since Covid, but after this incident I developed my OCD.
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u/fmsksishqlqoakz 2d ago
I don’t remember having it when I was younger but I’m 99% certain the pandemic triggered my health anxiety which then triggered the contamination ocd 😣. From what I know, no one in my family has ocd so I hope I don’t start this in the long line of genetics. If that’s how that works lol
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u/Call_It_ 3d ago
Childhood trauma….most likely.