[Partless]

Anybody know any stats on germs and probability of things? Today I went to do laundry and usually I make it right on time to grab my clothes after dryer but I had two loads and when went down there, two people had taken each load out and put it on the counter. I saw one person as she left but not the other. I was like literally only a single minute late. Other times I'm like five minutes early, and at times I've had to deal with people who left their crap in the washer or dryer sometimes more than 30 minutes after it was done. I would not touch it so had to keep coming back down multiple times in those days.

Anyhow, so then today I got obsessed with what if the two people who had touched my stuff had various germs on their hands, skin disease, all that stuff. I so wished they had touched my stuff before I had put them in the dryer cause then it would have killed many of them. What's worse is that bed sheet was slightly wet when taken out. Just a little damp. Now I'm gonna worry.

Laundry is expensive and the machines are used again right now anyways (stupid small laundry in the small building) and I kind of want to fight the urge and not do laundry again but I don't know.

Any suggestions, sympathy, or anything I appreciate it.

[sideblinded]

Partless, The probability that your clothes are contaminated is very small. These thoughts are not rational thoughts. I don't like it either when others handle my clothes but I don't think that there is a contamination process going on. I am sorry that they were not as respectful as you. I would not like that but I don't think that your clothes have germs. What do you normally do when you get these thoughts. Do distractions work or thinking pleasant thoughts?

[Partless]

sideblinded, thank you for your reply. I usually try to distract myself but depending on strength of compulsion it may come back. Sometimes I sit down and look at it rationally. But the problem is that nothing we do is 100% safe. Nothing in life is. So when I'm anxious (that day had an argument with mom), OCD gets worse. Since I feel more tense and uncomfortable, suddenly the thought of getting sick or dying becomes more intense and more real. When I'm happy or in a good mood I don't think about those things. OCD becomes mild.

That's why I like certainty and why I was for a while drawn to religion. I don't want probabilities and percentages. Like there are always exceptions. Usually the things that really trigger me are those incidents I hear about where unexpected things happened, like somebody catching a rare virus, or a routine surgery going wrong, or a car's brake suddenly stop working in a highway. They don't happen often but because they do happen it becomes like lottery, IT COULD BE YOU!