OCD & Judging
Thank you for reading,
Do people with OCD or specifically Contamination OCD judge people prematurely? By the way a person looks, acts, or anything else. If you don’t know, I have Contamination OCD. I have been thinking this week about my aunt who stayed with me. Last week I told you about how she lotioned herself after her shower, and how it bothered me by her starting with her feet and moving up her body without washing her hands after her feet. I feel this is icky. Do I watch her more closely, since she is a seventies person who nothing seems to bother? Do I judge all people to the same standard when it comes to OCD or only the people I know the way they are like my aunt without seeing them do anything that I would think is icky, gross, etc? I might have when my OCD was at an extreme level, however I don’t feel I do this anymore. The only person that I can think of that I’m mindful of is my dad. Do you or someone you know who has OCD judge people prematurely? What type of OCD do you have?
I do maintenance at an elementary school, including doing maintenance, I also have to pick up the front office trash until they leave for a summer break. I have issues with trash of all kinds with my type of OCD. I wear gloves to take the full bag out to put a clean bag in around all the desks. There have been several times this week when more than one person helped me by pulling their bag, handing it to me, and then putting in a clean bag. I think this is gross despite that none of the ladies who did this thought twice of doing it, along with moving on with their project they were doing.
Have I in the past thought of some of them as cleaner than others? Yes, I have. Does this make me judge them prematurely? No, but I did judge them after I got to know them, which is wrong too.
I went to therapy this week to which I asked if people with different types of OCD do prematurely judge other people. My therapist (Rachel) told me it is mostly people with Contamination OCD, but she did say there is one other type that might do it also which is Scrupulosity. Here is the definition from the IOCDF.
Scrupulosity is a subtype of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) involving religious or moral obsessions. Scrupulous individuals are overly concerned that something they thought or did might be a sin or other violation of religious or moral doctrine. They may worry about what their thoughts or behavior mean about who they are as a person.
https://iocdf.org/faith-ocd/what-is-ocd-scrupulosity/
Another thing we discussed is my issue with trash and the front office handing it to me. I like and enjoy Rachel and her humor in the way she shows me how my OCD is controlling my life. After telling her about my issue with trash with the front office staff, she says to me, Why aren’t more people like you? Why don’t they see things the way you see them? To which I say, exactly! I started to giggle for the reason I realized it was my OCD talking. I still want my OCD to be right. I’ve come a long way with changing my mind with OCD not being right, on occasions it comes back up. I need Rachel to help me see things like this sometimes, so my OCD doesn’t control my life the way it did.
OCD is very tricky on how it sneaks in to control my mind. Sometimes without me even noticing it. Eventually, I will have to not worry about OCD controlling my mind due to the fact I will have succeeded in beating OCD completely. For right now, this is another learning experience I have to put into memory.
Keep up the hard work with beating OCD. Some day we will be free of it.
This quote might not be perfect for the situation, but I like the quote.
You need to learn how to select your thoughts just the same way you
select what clothes you're gonna wear every day. This is a power you
can cultivate. If you want to control things in your life so bad, work
on the mind. That's the only thing you should be trying to control. Drop
everything else but that. Because if you can't learn to
master your thinking, you're in deep trouble forever.
Elizabeth Gilbert
Eat, Pray, Love
Here are some websites to find help with your OCD.
In Arizona
https://ocdandptsdtherapy.com/
https://ocdaz.org/
United States & Global
Please remember that I am not a therapist, but a person who has OCD, cares about others, and wants to help any way I can. I am not giving advice. I am just telling my own experiences, and praying my experiences help someone. If you need help please go get the help you need.
Until next time,
Tracy T. Agnelli
