How can i stop obessing about germs?!
Question: I have ocd, it comes and goes in how bad it gets.. it gets worse whenever I get stressed. One way that I handle stress is to clean everything to a tee (yes i know it is weird). I have an English Project to do this weekend and SAT's next week. On top of some family issues.
So as you can see I am under alot of stress. I have been pretty much non-stop cleaning since 8:00 this morning. How can I handle sress better? Why do I obsess about cleaning so much?
Answers: I have ocd, it comes and goes in how bad it gets.. it gets worse whenever I get stressed. One way that I handle stress is to clean everything to a tee (yes i know it is weird). I have an English Project to do this weekend and SAT's next week. On top of some family issues.
So as you can see I am under alot of stress. I have been pretty much non-stop cleaning since 8:00 this morning. How can I handle sress better? Why do I obsess about cleaning so much?
Hey! I'm sorry you are going through this. I can definitely understand the pressure you are under, i'm in uni myself. I've also had OCD, its definitely not something you want to be bothered with.
The bad thing about OCD (and i'm sure you're aware of this), is that you can't break the compulsions, they become too overpowering and you can often feel overwhelmed or anxious if you don't carry through with them. The best thing you can do is to speak to a psychologist about what is happening. I have seen one and they are very helpful. OCD is very treatable and it doesn't take very long for you to make progress. Any information you give them will be kept 100% confidential. They will be able to talk to you about how you are coping, how much of an impact it is making on your life and then talk with you about come up with some methods to overcome your compulsions.
Now i have to warn you, medication may be offered but you DO NOT HAVE TO TAKE IT. If you don't want to take medication, then just say so and they will focus primarily on methods. The medication is there for extreme cases where talking to a psychologist and using the methods are not enough. You are not crazy if you speak to a psychologist - people see them for all kinds of reasons - including finding better ways to handle stress. It also just feels good to get things off of your chest instead of bottling it up and hoping for the best.
There are government funded psychologist, or you could ring up a psychologist and see whether they put patients on a 'Mental Health Plan'. This will greatly cut the costs of seeing one. I was able to see one for free while i was at school so it may be worth your while mentioning that you are a student. You can usually get a discount if you are a full time student.
I hope you feel better soon. You are able to get through this, good luck!!
Think of germs as your friends.If you stayed in a sterile environment..you wouldn't have any resistance to the really mean germs. Most germs are not mean. They help you build up resistance to others. I'm sure there's some medication that can help you with the obsessive /compulsive part.
You know..in the Bible..Jesus told somebody to go put mud on them for healing.
you're probably just using cleaning as something to take your mind of things. Try working out instead. It'll wear you down and make you feel better about yourself.
You're under too much stress and you do not know how to deal with it.
You need some individual therapy and you should be taking a stress management course.
You need to learn how to relax and let go, to enjoy life, to set priorities. Everything in life is not all that important.
If you don't deal with this now, you could be headed for a breakdown.
most people are afraid of something because they know little about it (e.g. snakes, spiders) but many germs are harmless, and some are even helpful. do you eat yogurt? well, there is bacteria in yogurt (good bacteria!). and they havent harmed a single human being that ingested them. also, be assured that your body has many different defenses against the bad germs. you need not to worry.