Traditionally, germs have been the focus of attention when it comes to contamination obsessions, with the emphasis on health anxiety and fears of getting ill or causing others to get ill. (n.d.). You also describe your obsessive thoughts and your compulsive behaviors to your therapist. (2021). Research says inflammation and life stress may connect these conditions. Obsessivecompulsive disordercontamination fears, features, and treatment: Novel smartphone therapies in light of global mental health and pandemics (COVID-19). You shouldnt stop taking your medication suddenly, because in some cases it can cause: Your doctor may recommend deep brain stimulation (DBS) if more conservative treatment methods arent working for you. Compulsions are activities or rituals you feel you must do to neutralize the obsession or soothe your distress about it. There is not only a fear of possibly harming others, but also a fear of having to live with the resulting guilt. Although a few different kinds of therapy can be used to treat OCD, a kind of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), called exposure and response prevention (ERP), is particularly effective. What about sex? You could also try to use an OCD workbook, such as Getting Over OCD: A 10- Step Workbook for Taking Back Your Life or The Mindfulness Workbook for OCD. Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Association. The prevalence of obsessivecompulsive disorder in patients with irritable bowel syndrome: A cross-sectional study. doctors, hairdressers, homeless people, gay people), Avoidance of contact with people in general (i.e. (2022). . (2020). Mental or emotional contamination OCD is when one is triggered by gross or disturbing thoughts and they think they're mentally or emotionally contaminated from their pure state of . Have you considered getting some CBT? You like your kitchen sink to shine, and your stove can never be clean enough. Part 1, Fear of contracting a disease from casual contact with blood, Fear of being irresponsible in terms of allowing self or others to become contaminated by blood, Fear of being overwhelmed with disgust about blood, Excessive avoidance of situations or environments where blood may be present (i.e. So, despite there being nothing inherently dangerous about blood, somewhere in our genetic database is probably an urge to avoid being in its presence. Another is that the feeling of disgust, the state of gross is somehow dangerous; that the experience is so unacceptable that it should not be tolerated or that the experience itself is an indicator of impending harm. Research says inflammation and life stress may connect these conditions. The good news is that there are treatments that can help, The glycemic index (GI) is a value used to measure how much a specific food increases your blood sugar levels. It may have to be done according to exact rules, which if not followed force the sufferer to start all over again. Mindfulness practice would entail noticing the feeling of contamination and allowing it to be there, as a feeling, without making compulsive attempt to eliminate it. On the surface, the contamination fears associated with OCD dont seem to be a very complicated subject. Learn more here. This disorder can be . Finding support can also be helpful. Watching someone close to you in distress can cause you distress, too. Common obsessions in contamination-related OCD include the fear of getting sick with a serious illness like rabies, ebola, H1N1 (swine flu), Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, mad cow disease, hepatitis, or avian influenza. You can learn more about how we ensure our content is accurate and current by reading our. Let us first examine the nature of obsessive contamination fears. Sometimes OCD goes into remission on its own, especially if it initially appears during childhood. If you think youd benefit from talking with others who have OCD, you may want to check out the IOCDF OCD support groups list for local groups or the IOCDF online or telephone support groups list for remote support groups. Behavioral researchers have long known that stress and trauma are associated with a higher risk of developing OCD. Life is dangerous and funny and interesting and beautiful. One kind of medication that is commonly prescribed for OCD is selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). The belief here is that these names, images, concepts, or the characteristics of certain people can be magically transferred, simply by thinking about them or by coming into casual contact with them. These are prescription drugs often used for anxiety and depression. By observing and allowing, you are weakening the glue that binds unwanted thoughts to compulsive urges. They could also include doubt about whether something is really clean. It can also include such things as: This list is by no means complete. Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) causes repeated actions or thoughts, and it can manifest in a variety of ways. Its easy to see why this was such a powerful and effective system for keeping our prehistoric ancestors healthyand how, today, this system can misfire to trigger visceral and terrifying obsessive thoughts about sickness and death. Course and outcome of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Led by Jon Hershfield, MFT, The Center for OCD and Anxiety is a private pay outpatient center devoted to the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder and anxiety disorders in teens and adults. For some people, contamination is a theme. When you live with OCD, some people don't believe you because you don't fit the stereotype. This doubt can be hurtful, but there are ways around it. As with other bodily fluids, this gelatinous mess of glandular secretions, sugar, and sperm appears to take on magical properties once it leaves the body, resulting in severe OCD behaviors that can meaningfully impair one's quality of life. A 2022 study found that people with OCD were more likely to have an imbalanced microbial biosystem in the gut, which can affect digestion. Talk therapy, also called psychotherapy, is one of the most common and effective ways to treat OCD. OCD sufferers can feel alienated by their disorder, or even find themselves judged by others. You might use certain washing or cleaning rituals to get rid of those thoughts. You can resist washing in the presence of a blood-related thought (you can also presumably resist putting tap shoes on a giraffe). Contact contamination OCD is when an individual is triggered when they are touching and/or around physical contaminants, such as dirt, bodily fluids, or garbage. Common Contamination OCD compulsions: Avoidance. After all, dirt, germs, washing what could be simpler? But what do these look like, and how are they related? That said, many people develop OCD for no clear reason. Similar to symmetry and order compulsions, checking compulsions have been associated with anger and trauma. Copyright 2023 International OCD Foundation (IOCDF). attending support groups, such as those on the, finding healthy ways to relieve stress, such as, engaging in enjoyable activities and hobbies, cultivating relationships with loved ones. Whats the outlook for people with OCD-related cleaning compulsions? spending a significant proportion of your day cleaning, washing your hands or showering in excess, worrying excessively about illness, germs, or dirt, experiencing intrusive thoughts about becoming ill or getting dirty, throwing away items that you think are contaminated or dirty, engaging in specific washing rituals (e.g. Our website services, content, and products are for informational purposes only. But when OCD puts all the focus on dangerous, all of lifes other qualities become obscured. What about a simple walk in the park where you might brush up against a sharp plant or step on a discarded band-aid? Similarly, if a thought about blood is present in the mind, mindfulness enables you to see it for what it is, a thought about blood. HIV is the boogeyman of health anxiety. This article was initially published in the June 2000 edition of the OCD Newsletter. Obviously, washers go through large amounts of soap and paper towels (used in preference to cloth towels which can only be used once and create laundry). It is common for people with OCD to experience guilt. All rights reserved. Contamination OCD involves a lot more than simply being diligent about cleaning, and the symptoms can differ from person to person. The OCD makes a pretty strong case for doing compulsions. Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a debilitating mental health condition that can impact a person's relationships, work, and happiness. Our website services, content, and products are for informational purposes only. The actions may be physical behaviors (such as arranging objects in a particular order) or mental ones (like praying in a particular way). (2020). Melli G. (2019). OCD can be managed with treatment. Compulsions are the usual responses of sufferers to these fears. The main family of medicines used to treat OCD is known as SSRIs (Serotonin Specific Reuptake Inhibitors). The obsessions and compulsions usually take up an hour or more of your day. Counting may also be part of a washing ritual to ensure that it has been done long enough period, or a certain number of times. This means that there is no cure. Morgan Rondinelli talks about growing up with OCD without knowing she had OCD. An obsession with contamination can lead to a cleaning compulsion. When contaminated they can move freely about their dirty world and touch and do anything, since everything in it is already contaminated. If the concern of getting a blood-borne illness is about being isolated from the people you love, incapable of enjoying relationships, work, daily life, then why let OCD create that very same environment with avoidance and other compulsions? Understanding differences in brain structures is important because it may point to new directions for treating the condition. Does that mean you have obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)? DSM-5 emphasizes that compulsive acts can take up a lot of time. Common Contamination OCD compulsions: Avoidance: Avoiding objects, places and people that you fear could threaten your health. Contact Us. (2017). Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is a maladaptive reaction to these ordinary but unpleasant experiences of disgust, discomfort, and unease. Blood pours out, not in. In more extreme cases, hands may be washed up to 200 times per day. Obsessions trigger discomfort, compulsions temporarily relieve discomfort, and the awareness of this relief triggers further sensitivity to the unwanted thoughts and greater urges to engage in more compulsions. These are called OCD themes.. a red mark on a wall), Checking for blood or for cuts in the skin (on self or others), Reassurance seeking online (or elsewhere) regarding blood-borne illnesses and how they are contracted, Reassurance seeking from others that they have not come in contact with blood, Mental rituals, such as mentally retracing what could have touched what or mentally repeating reassuring statements, Scrutinizing the behavior of dentists, doctors or any other professionals who may be exposed to blood (yours or others), There are no documented cases of contracting HIV through environmental contact (i.e., touching infected blood), There are essentially only two ways to get HIV the use of shared hypodermic needles in which blood from one person is literally extracted and put into the bloodstream of another person, and unprotected sex with an infected person in which semen or vaginal secretions are essentially pushed into the bloodstream of another person through tears in the skin of the mouth, vagina, anus, or penis (other ways of contracting it include transmission from pregnant mother to fetus and transfusions of infected blood [which is no longer an issue due to testing standards]). Concurrent with exposures that may involve touching triggering items, interacting with triggering people, or visiting triggering locations, the person working to overcome their fear would work on resisting washing, reassurance seeking, checking, and other neutralizing rituals. People with OCD take comfort in repetitive, irrational thoughts and urges. And, for what its worth, thats a pretty common diagnosis. Many people are surprised to learn that children can have OCD too. The neural correlates of obsessive-compulsive disorder: A multimodal perspective. You may have heard that all people with OCD are focused on cleaning and organizing. Researchers have found that people with symmetry obsession and an ordering compulsion often have trouble expressing anger in healthy ways and may have a personal history of trauma. People will also think I did something pretty awful to get the disease in the first place and that is the only story that will ever be told about me.. Behavioral therapy would be in the form of Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP). (2016). (2013). Hockey player Corey Hirsch shares his story on this podcast episode. The following body fluids pose a risk for bloodborne virus transmission: blood, serum, plasma and all biological fluids visibly contaminated with blood laboratory specimens that contain concentrated virus pleural, amniotic, pericardial, peritoneal, synovial and cerebrospinal fluids uterine/vaginal secretions or semen. Research suggests that it can affect up to 46% of people with OCD. However, research from 2019 disputes this link. I should know I've lived it. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is a maladaptive reaction to these ordinary but unpleasant experiences of disgust, discomfort, and unease. There are many examples of obsessions that may affect people with OCD. Enter OCD stage right. Your personal temperament can also be a contributing factor for developing OCD. Last medically reviewed on October 18, 2022. Employing mindfulness skills can be an integral part of revealing distorted thinking and compulsive urges. You explain what you fear will happen if you dont follow through with a behavior or rituals. If your loved one lives with OCD, remember to take care of yourself, too. I have even worked with several people who poured straight bleach on their hands and bodies, resulting in chemical burns. If I get this disease, I may give it to my child (or partner or other loved one). So, the urge to do compulsions continues to go up over time while the obsessive fear of blood never abates (and actually worsens over the same period of time). (2020). So, having something get on a cut is not the threat your OCD is telling you it is. These dangers were invisible, undetectable, and could remain dormant for months after the initial contamination, making them difficult to avoid through simple cause-and-effect learning. Contamination OCD: . After all, if you are seeing blood outside of the body, it usually means something is wrong. For instance, there are some sufferers who fear to touch the floor, the ground, outdoors, or any public objects. Williams MT, et al. Research from 2017 noted the symptoms of OCD can be managed effectively. Researchers are finding differences in the brain structures of people with OCD, along with differences in how their brain functions. Clothes that are considered contaminated must be worn when living in this zone. Contamination- or health-related OCD is associated with persistent worries about one's health or the health of loved ones. (2013). Also like other bodily fluids, semen is capable of hosting germs, bacteria, and viruses. A monozygotic twin difference study. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), Tips for helping someone you love with contamination OCD, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), Getting Over OCD: A 10- Step Workbook for Taking Back Your Life, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8057190/, jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2614194, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7691644/, new.ejpsy.eg.net/article.asp?issn=1110-1105;year=2018;volume=39;issue=3;spage=140;epage=149;aulast=Michael, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) Screening Quiz, How to Support a Child with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Podcast: NHL Goalie with OCD & Anxiety Featuring Corey Hirsch, OCD and Multiple Sclerosis (MS): What to Know, How to Support a Loved One with OCD: 7 Ways. Emotions Revealed: Recognizing Faces and Feelings to Improve Communication and Emotional Life. Genetics of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Is there a type of OCD that focuses on cleaning? Having briefly covered this very complex topic, the next question would be what can be done about these problems? Here are the best ones. During TMS, a doctor places an electromagnetic coil on your head. Obsessive-compulsive disorder: Advances in diagnosis and treatment. What I mean by this is that I have intrusive thoughts about contaminating other people with bodily fluids such as saliva, blood or even anal secretions. For example, someone who has a contamination obsession fear of germs or bodily fluids may avoid public restrooms. It is true that we should be well-informed about our health and take precautions to reduce the likelihood of harm from preventable illnesses. OCD can affect your time management by making you overthink, strive for perfection, or have trouble focusing. When someone you love has contamination OCD, your instinct might be to help them avoid dirt and germs so that they dont feel distressed. The types of contamination that can be spread to others are about the same as those that trouble other sufferers. This article reviews all you need to, Healthline has strict sourcing guidelines and relies on peer-reviewed studies, academic research institutions, and medical associations.