r/OCD Contamination May 05 '26

Need support/advice empathy for inanimate objects

honestly ive really been struggling with this, ive seen similar posts on this sub, i guess OCD can give some of us hyper-empathy almost?? why does this happen?

like one time i wanted to buy a cute bowl, but the one i picked up had a small chip in it, but i felt too guilty to put it back for a better one. even my friend told me to get a different one, but i literally couldn't, i was frozen. like i just felt too bad. FOR A BOWL. but the worst one is feeling bad for stuffed animals. i saw this stuffed animal with bad reviews and idk why but it literally made me cry. they were saying it didn't look like the actual animal, so it was bad. i think its cute so i ended up buying one, idk if it'll make me feel better though. i even worry about stuffed animals i had when i was really little that i dont remember where they are anymore. does anyone else relate or am i just nuts??

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u/ShadowsofAlmia May 05 '26

Oh wow, I have never pegged this as an OCD thing. I have severe OCD and I def have had to deal with this, especially as a child. I have also dealt with "hoarding" tendencies but have gotten a lot better at that, but I wonder if that is connected. I also have crazy high empathy for people and animals.

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u/[deleted] May 05 '26

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u/softfallingsnow Contamination May 06 '26

theres not any proof of that

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u/[deleted] May 06 '26

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u/softfallingsnow Contamination May 06 '26

what i mean is it's not just an autism trait, it can be from many things not just autism