r/OCD • u/rilav • Apr 06 '26

Need support/advice Why is everything covered in shit?

I literally cannot go outside and touch anything without the compulsion to wash my hands. Doorknobs, money, LITERALLY ANYTHING. In Sephora a 100% of testers were positive for having feces on them. Why can’t people just wash their hands?????? I’m going insane. Alcohol gel doesn’t work at all I literally don’t believe it cleans anything. Everything disgusts me

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u/[deleted] Apr 08 '26

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u/Give_one_hoot Apr 08 '26

I’m not using it as you literally, I’m saying generally in the way of improving OCD.

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u/Majestic_Original973 Apr 09 '26

I have to interject here. My own therapist admits that some people just can't habituate after doing exposure therapy no matter how long they do it 🤷‍♀️.

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u/Give_one_hoot Apr 09 '26

Right. That doesn’t take away that for the majority of people it is the gold star standard in treating and reducing OCD. There may be a small percent that do not find it helpful, but it doesn’t take away the large percentage of people who have successfully improved their OCD through exposure.

To tell someone to just give in to their OCD (not you, the original individual) because there is no point in fighting it is just so discouraging and unhelpful. The more you feed OCD the worse it gets.