Yes, I also have the stereotypical "cleanliness OCD"

You're talking to a BIG former germaphobe. Health anxiety is extremely real and debilitating.

But before I go into my past germaphobic habits, I wanna teach you all something....

That is, the term "mental contamination".

This is a phenomenon common in individuals with OCD where there is the feeling of contamination from a non-physical contaminant.

I always felt the strongest urge to wash my hands after being in a public area, even if I didn't touch anything. I felt contaminated after going to church, attending a funeral, going to certain restaurants and stores, etc.

A lot of my exposures over the summer had me go into thrift stores and churches without washing my hands after. Eventually, the need to clean myself lessened in intensity, and I'm now able to leave these public places with minimal anxiety.

Recently, I caught myself giving into the obsession by washing my hands after I bought a mug from Goodwill. I'm not ashamed to admit when I have slip ups. I'm only human.

On top of mental contamination, I also obsess over my health. When I wasn't taking care of my OCD, I refused to share foods or drinks. Yeah, drinking from someone else's cup may gross you out, but I wouldn't even let people touch my glass.

If someone around me was sick, I did everything I could to avoid that person, and obsessively applied hand sanitizer at every chance. When I had to share a living space with someone who was sick, I obsessively wiped down all of his / her belongings with alcohol wipes... multiple times a day.

In order to help overcome these obsessions, my therapist had me drop crackers on the ground and then eat the "contaminated" crackers. Occasionally I had to rub my hands on a dumpster or public amenity without washing my hands after.

Disclaimer: These exposures may come as a shock to you, but exposure and response prevention therapy is the leading therapy for individual's with OCD, and is extremely effective. My therapist specializes in this type of therapy and knows what are appropriate exposures.

I still have a lot of work to do in the area of contamination and health, but I've made incredible progress.

I know this post was a bit lengthy, so thanks for reading.

And as always, have a wonderful day.