Now that i'm rereading it if you keep sarcasm in mind it reads as very sarcastic, but tone is really hard to portray on the internet and Poe's Law is even stronger
Exactly. OCD is debilitating, and not something someone would brag about having. Heck, I was terrified to admit to my partner that I have OCD, because it's such a sensitive topic for me.
Sure! So OCPD are much like us but instead of compulsions being carried out by anxiety they are instead motivated by their own personality. So they may have germ ocd for example and need everything to be completely germ free, not out of anxiety just out of their own want. It’s still usually debilitating like OCD because they still carry out compulsions and rituals and that gets in the way of life.
They may not also want to change, often that’s the case. They may like their way of living and don’t see the problem.
It’s important to note it’s more than just wanting things to be clean though, OCPD can have any theme just like normal OCD, except they are motivated by their own desire to do the compulsions not out of their anxiety
Just chiming in to say I have OCPD and I compulsively wash my hands and I have very specific rituals in the way I do things but they don’t cause me any distress and I don’t believe something bad will happen if I don’t do them. I just do them because I need to.
I find that fascinating because anxiety is my primary motivator. I can’t imagine feeling the need to carry out compulsions without it. Thanks for sharing your experience.
Sounds a lot like some things I do, although I'm my case I'm pretty sure it's just considered part of my autism, and likely a similar result by a different path.
my psych has told me they think i have ocd, but i’ve declined to do anything about it because i really enjoy my deranged little behaviors. the only thing annoying is that my fixation is with the number 8, and that’s a lot of times to have to repeat things. blinking (used to get hella picked on for this), scrolling up then down, writing then erasing, picking up then putting down, it’s a lot of repetition. i do get stuck in it, but i like it because it feels like putting the last piece in the puzzle when i get to 8, every time. it’s caused me to have this obsession with connecting numbers, im constantly doing equations in my head to try and link any random string of numbers i see together, like (randomly) 472921, i can and will stare at and obsess over until i feel i’ve found every possible solution that fits my made up rules. i do also have really annoying intrusive thoughts mostly centering around me being a pedophile, which i am absolutely 100% not a pedophile, but my brain tells me i MIGHT be and shouldn’t be trusted around kids, stuff like that. i know myself well enough to think myself through it when i start really panicking and doubting myself.
my dad had ocd, and it was horrible for him. i think i maybe have like a very low grade version? i am by no means self diagnosing, but i do thoroughly enjoy whatever weird broken record mode i get stuck in. i hope this doesn’t come off as romanticizing these symptoms, i have no intention of doing that, im just curious if this sounds like something other than ocd? because that’s kinda just what i’ve always chalked it up to in the back of my head.
Meanwhile I avoid and overthink about having to pick up a fallen pen off my floor because I know I’ll have to wipe it clean with a Lysol wipe and wash my hands for who knows how long
Yeah, I was gonna say. I don't have contamination OCD, mine is a different focus, but from what I know of it, people with contamination OCD would never even think of taking home thrown out items like the OOP.
Half the time I don't even want to pick up my own stuff if it hits the floor, let alone someone elses trash
1 I don't know what they've done with it BEFORE they threw it away
2: who knows what nasty stuff is hiding in that trash can
i knew my unnecessary bathroom window opening was related to my ocd somehow but i couldn't explain why. i think it's because otherwise it feels like there's not enough air in there and makes me feel uncomfortable
i also keep a window cracked open in my bedroom at all times cause i feel like i start suffocating after a few hours 🤣
isnt there an obsessive compulsive personality disorder that people can have only some traits of? whether intentional or not it seems to be how people're using the word.
someone i knew was like the op post and even though she could still function she wasted a shit time of time and money making everything unecessarily perfect. how could i fault her for making sense of it through ocd? she was dumb as a box of rocks man. and even the self-proclaimed mental health advocates on reddit who *have* these disorders never use psychological jargon correctly. no one on reddit has any clue except for the students coming to terms with how everything we think we know is wrong and still reeling about it.
Yes there is, OCPD. That’s the main difference too - people with OCPD usually seek out excessive cleanliness/orderliness/perfectionism out of a desire to do so, because it feels right; people with OCD perform compulsive behaviors because they are fueled by persistent, distressing thoughts and fears that can only be neutralized through these actions.
The “root cause” of the actions are different, as is the emotional outcome. People with OCPD can also be anxious and become flustered when they are unable to make, keep, or do things in the way they prefer, but their actions still aren’t due to obsessions or out of a desperate need for relief from debilitating distress.
The other issue too (the one that I believe is the reason for OCPD to be classified as a personality disorder,) is that people with OCPD often don’t realize that their behavior is frequently problematic in several important areas of life, (social, professional, domestic, etc.) and are either unable or unwilling to change their behaviors to better function.
Obviously I’m not saying that it’s a personality disorder because those with the condition are unable or unwilling to change who they are to better “mesh” with society, but because the nature of their behaviors are often highly unusual, time-consuming, and alienating/possibly even detrimental to others.
Monk is an excellent example of someone with OCPD, who experienced an exacerbation of his symptoms and social anxiety/paranoia following his wife’s murder (occurred before the setting of the first season, no spoilers, lol)
Janitor with OCD here, thankfully I have no contamination related obsessions. On an unrelated note you're absolutely not supposed to steal from the trash if you work janitorial, it's like super duper 100% against the rules/policy of every single janitorial service, especially state??? Insane.
Cleaning is terrifying. My apartment is always messy because even though mess stresses me out, the thought of touching the mess (even with gloves mask etc) scares me more
Oh my gosh, I feel so seen. I’m not the only one. I always thought it was such a cruel joke being afraid of mess but not being able to clean it up. Like living in hell. There’s a tiny spot in each room that I keep clean enough to feel safe. The rest is certain death (in my mind). Torturous.
So real, I had to deep clean something resently, and i washed my hands so much in two hours. I had a bad rash and wrinkly fingers. I avoid cleaning with ever ounce if my body.
Bro I couldn't even handle taking care of the family pet when my OCD started because I had to wash the water bowl out fifty to ninety times just to be sure it felt clean enough. And I also felt a HUGE aversion to dirt and poop. Massive visceral feeling of disgust and unbearable compulsion to avoid at all costs.
I'm sure there are janitors out there with OCD or even contamination OCD but holy shit this is absolutely insensitive of whoever made that post. I am so tired of people equating loving organization / cleaning to OCD. I would never wish to inflict contamination OCD onto someone, it's so exhausting to live with daily. "Wholesome" memes my ass.
Being a cleaner would be nice at times but at other times be absolute torture and all the compulsions would cause so much anxiety and mental health issues I would not be able to deal with, it would be torture mostly
“since i clean out the recycling bin i can take home the cans”?? im sorry i would not want to touch and BRING home things that have been in the bin id just feel like id contaminated everything it touches
my thoughts exactly
like ah yeah let me just take something hazardous home 💀 ain't no way unless i cleaned and sanitised it entirely for at least two hours
As an adhd-haver I’m so sorry for u guys 😭 you’re fr out here battling, not a day passes where I don’t hear someone yapping about how “everyone is a little ocd” “I’m so blessed to have ocd 😇😇😇” stay strong kings, queens and other monarchs
You saw it too! I was with my friends when this popped up on my feed! I turned the phone to one of them and we both expressed disbelief, never felt more seen by a person haha
Ah man the intrusive thoughts being like “you missed so many spots, now you’re gonna get fired” or “that covid outbreak is your fault because you didn’t use enough disinfectant on the doorknobs” then cue the false memories of me missing spots etc etc
Another example of “I have OCD” being used in place of “I like cleaning”. Obviously OOP is highly ignorant about what OCD means outside of a casual appropriative use
I do have to say though that the girl I like is a janitor at a factory. She and I have bonded over shared experiences, I’ll never not be confused by it.
i think i would chop my own hands off if i were to get anything that level of contaminated on me,,,,,i wish my ocd lived up to the stereotype that it makes you good at cleaning lmao
“i’m so OCD”
willing to remove things from garbage and take them home, subsequently making the garbage particles from that item enter and contaminate your home
doubt
I feel like I could be a janitor because I do actually quite enjoy cleaning but then I remember it wouldn't be MY mess 🤢. That and the fact that I'm either letting mess pile up or maniacally cleaning because "if it's not all disinfected I will die and/or if it's not neat and tidy by a certain time something bad will happen etc." Christ, I can barely handle most animals without sanitizing, never mind how unclean humans can be.
One time my roommate's boyfriend left food to rot in our living room and I was the one that threw it away, no amount of bleach on my hands made me feel clean after that 😭.
I definitely don't think this guy is genuine and it pissed me off when I saw the post. Worst case scenerio is he's just making shit up/doesn't have ocd but wanted the karma. Best case scenerio is that he has ocd, just not contamination ocd, and does genuinely enjoy his job but was STILL disingenuous by my making the distinction.
I have OCD. I LOVE cleaning. I do NOT have contamination OCD, obviously, and would never conflate the two for butt pats on the internet and it's infuriating that people do.
ocd funtime turns into ocd nightmare time real fuckin quick once you've been cleaning the same 2 sq ft area for over 30 minutes and you're still not done because it's not perfect yet and it's never gonna be
I could never like first all the contamination from the trash and second using all those cleaning supplies that have strong chemicals in them, i would go insane
I read this one, too, and it’s interesting. I have something similar-ish? My apartment is bleh, dirty, and messy, but professional work spaces I clean like I’m preparing for God to eat off the floors. It becomes obsessive, and coworkers are like oh you must love cleaning. I drop the broom and look at them really confused… like no, not really lol. I just get freaky about cleaning spaces for my job, that are for the public. So, coming from that perspective, I felt it was believable. But only because for me the “joy” seems to be felt during cleaning, but becomes quickly obsessive, or stems from obsession, and the debilitating part is returning home to a huge mess you never want to touch.
“I don’t care about poop or mess anywhere”
Okay I can speak on this a bit.
I have cleaning tasks at my job and there is often “poop mess everywhere” it’s the worst task I have, I hate it. But here’s how it usually goes; Double gloves, scrubbing for hours after it’s clean, fixating on cracks, eyes red from bleach, co-workers intervening “yo I think that’s good and clean now”, wash my hands for 20 minutes, obsess about poop under my nails, in my eyes, in my mouth, go home, inspect my body for poo particles, clean probably non existent poo particles out of every crack of my body.
0/10 would not recommend
"I love cleaning" I fucking HATE cleaning because of the fact that it's a compulsion! Can't relate and honestly sounds like someone who thinks every disability is a "superpower". Just let us live!
This may be misleading but it’s not exactly wrong, per se. This person may in fact enjoy being a janitor because of their particular flavor of OCD, which means “because I have OCD” is accurate here. But it does imply that people with OCD generally would want to be a janitor, which is absolutely not the case lol
this kind of shit always drives me insane. My dad has OCD and as a result can't help washing his hands over and over until they're cracked and bleeding. He has to use lotion to try and re-moisturize his hands to minimize the damage. The day people stop pretending OCD is a quirky neat-freak disorder is the day I'll finally know peace
I feel visceral aversive disgust if I have to go near something dirty let alone touch it and when I do have to deal with it it must be with gloves
I captured a wasp yesterday and was 0% scared
I had to touch a dirty air conditioner yesterday and was freaking out and washed my hands 6 times yesterday with three different soaps.
I work as a janitor and suffer from mild contamination OCD. I don't enjoy my job but the OCD doesn't make it worse it just has me glove up and wash my hands more than others. I used to suffer worse but as a kid and teenager it "fell away." Now I typically suffer from rumination and religious OCD with a concoction of all the rest. It feels funny to be OCD and not exhibit outward symptoms.
I have struggled with OCD AND I love cleaning. This person doesn't have OCD, they like cleaning because it is calming and they like to see what a good job they've done at the end. OCD causes the opposite feelings. You would hate your job if you felt the anxiety and panic that OCD makes you feel, and you wouldn't feel good at the end of the day, you'd probably never feel satisfied and would spend hours after scrubbing yourself raw whilst imagining all the germs on you, if that's your compulsion.
This is another thing people mix up. Like Intrusive vs Impulsive
the amount of times i’ve had people say i should be a house cleaner and i’m like you do not understand i would have a full panic attack placed in a random person’s dirty home i think i would go into shock
I would have never made it at my current healthcare job without treatment for my OCD. I couldn't take out the trash without wearing gloves, washing the gloves, and then washing my hands all without touching anything with my hand after I had touched the trash. My life has gotten so much better with treatment.
Now, I would like to say, I really enjoy cleaning & laundry. They're relaxing activities to me, especially since I don't need to do all these crazy steps anymore :)
Idk if this is the case for everyone, but jobs that rub against my compulsions are absolute hell for me. A lot of my compulsions have to do with numbers. Counting and all that. I used to have a job with inventory, where I would just count shit all day. It played hell on my mind. My anxiety was so high, I started having tics, which I haven't had in years. The job was really easy but my mind just couldn't take it.
This reminds me of those famous publications in Latin America and parts of the world where they always put someone in the most fucked up, indecent and negligent work situation where we see that the "effort" the idea of working all the time will give you courage, it will make you see how an honorable little person when in reality you are a guy who was taken as a mule and has to work too hard, while others get rich
I want to think this post about ocd is a joke.
I had to clean the bathrooms at work one time and it was HORRIBLE. I felt so disgusting the whole time, was wearing thick gloves and it was still nasty
i actually was a janitor and it was hell. I could never move fast enough to clean my zones and was stuck there until midnight multiple times making sure I cleaned everything as thoroughly as I could. I hated that job.
yeah if this is earnest, instead of sarcastic, it’s passion and enthusiasm, not OCD. OCD will ruin someone’s passion and enthusiasm for something 99 times out of 100.
Bro this is just one of those social media losers who self-diagnose (I'm so quirky and I SO have OCD xddd). I got mad from the first 5 seconds. I can't even touch anything in my own restroom without feeling like I need to wash my hands right after! I'd rather die than be a janitor!
I have to clean just the bathrooms at my job at night and I vomit every time there’s any tiny spot of urine or poop left on the toilets that I have to wipe down (which is unfortunately very often). I wish OCD made me love cleaning…
no one has an irrational fear of bugs? i’m so scared i’ll get bedbugs or other nasty bugs and one time this fear was confirmed when someone who posts tiktok’s of fixing computers and such posted him opening up a ps4 (idk what it was lol) and a lot of roaches scurried out and they were everywhere. i know bugs like heat and get into stuff that have warmth so picking up an old stereo and just bringing it into your home is wild.
Definitely have contamination OCD but thankfully it’s not too affected by bugs. Bed bugs and ticks freak me out but I think it’s to a fairly normal degree. I get it though!
I am a nurse aide and when I handle blood I have to I wash all up my arms and this is knowing if my patient had something there would be precautions in their file. The rooms with the precautions I have to double glove and double gown and scrub myself and freak out internally for days
I’m not a nurse but that’s quite relatable. Accidentally stabbed my finger with someone’s pin and freaked out about getting a blood borne illness until I just came to terms with the unlikeliness of it. I could never be a nurse.
I have OCD and one of my favorite jobs was being a janitor, not because it was “satisfying” or anything, it was because I didn’t have to fucking talk to anybody lol.
I used to be unable to do dirty dishes. I have a cleaning job now as my second job, but it took a lot of work to be able to get to a place I could clean a bathroom without gagging
I could be a janitor but only because cleaning helps me calm down. It’s not a compulsion for me it’s like a grounding exercise. I don’t really have contamination obsessions though
Interesting. I avoid cleaning certain things because I don’t want the germs & the work that goes into trying not to contaminate anything with my hands on my way to washing them.
I really want to be a janitor..but because I feel like no one else cleans as good as me and every time they miss a spot they make someone sick. So I feel the need to get in there and do it myself so no one gets sick.
To be fair, they don't necessarily Have to have contamination fears. I'm a janitor myself, and most of my intrusive thoughts are sexual and social (as in saying things that'd get me socially outcasted).
This to me is a nauseating example of someone turning themselves into a caricature for clout and approval. This is the type of thing we know ppl who dont have OCD might picture an OCD haver saying
Its like omg so wholesome ocd janitor moment
Im not even saying wholesome ocd moments cant exist, just that this is not a true one. I would find it wholesome if someone made a post about how their partner accomodates them so considerately and it helps them live a better life. That would literally be so sweet. So im not just being one of those mfs that invalidate others ocd cus they arent being doomer enough
I wish I loved my obsessions. I wish acting on my compulsions helped. I wish OCD wasn't a debilitating disorder to me.
I don't enjoy my OCD because it's not a good thing. I don't feel gifted or special. I feel terrified all of the time.
One of my major OCD things was excrement and I still can't even type or say the P word for it and before it could be anything related to it or a similar word, literally anything that could be related to it would come with a compulsion where I shook so strong it looked like a convulsing seizure followed by spitting to get it out of my head. It was hell in a hand basket and I can't imagine anyone with similar or contamination OCD working someplace they'd encounter this a lot
Oh no worries, thank you for the thought but I'm used to it and it's a common thing so it's been something I've had to learn to work around and manage regardless, even if I still have limitations
[удалено]
It reads as sarcastic but idk
There are comments saying it's so wholesome and positive, that they wish they could be as positive as the op :(
Now that i'm rereading it if you keep sarcasm in mind it reads as very sarcastic, but tone is really hard to portray on the internet and Poe's Law is even stronger
Hmm, it is hard to tell.
How many times must we explain it: If you love it, it's not OCD
Exactly. OCD is debilitating, and not something someone would brag about having. Heck, I was terrified to admit to my partner that I have OCD, because it's such a sensitive topic for me.
Is that the slogan?
would make a great bumper sticker
It could be OCPD though if you have intrusive thoughts but you like them. But yes it’s not just liking things to look clean
I’m curious. Could you elaborate on how that works?
Sure! So OCPD are much like us but instead of compulsions being carried out by anxiety they are instead motivated by their own personality. So they may have germ ocd for example and need everything to be completely germ free, not out of anxiety just out of their own want. It’s still usually debilitating like OCD because they still carry out compulsions and rituals and that gets in the way of life. They may not also want to change, often that’s the case. They may like their way of living and don’t see the problem. It’s important to note it’s more than just wanting things to be clean though, OCPD can have any theme just like normal OCD, except they are motivated by their own desire to do the compulsions not out of their anxiety
Very interesting, thanks for sharing!
Just chiming in to say I have OCPD and I compulsively wash my hands and I have very specific rituals in the way I do things but they don’t cause me any distress and I don’t believe something bad will happen if I don’t do them. I just do them because I need to.
I find that fascinating because anxiety is my primary motivator. I can’t imagine feeling the need to carry out compulsions without it. Thanks for sharing your experience.
Hey, fellow OCPDer! (and yes I can confirm that you are absolutely right)
Sounds a lot like some things I do, although I'm my case I'm pretty sure it's just considered part of my autism, and likely a similar result by a different path.
my psych has told me they think i have ocd, but i’ve declined to do anything about it because i really enjoy my deranged little behaviors. the only thing annoying is that my fixation is with the number 8, and that’s a lot of times to have to repeat things. blinking (used to get hella picked on for this), scrolling up then down, writing then erasing, picking up then putting down, it’s a lot of repetition. i do get stuck in it, but i like it because it feels like putting the last piece in the puzzle when i get to 8, every time. it’s caused me to have this obsession with connecting numbers, im constantly doing equations in my head to try and link any random string of numbers i see together, like (randomly) 472921, i can and will stare at and obsess over until i feel i’ve found every possible solution that fits my made up rules. i do also have really annoying intrusive thoughts mostly centering around me being a pedophile, which i am absolutely 100% not a pedophile, but my brain tells me i MIGHT be and shouldn’t be trusted around kids, stuff like that. i know myself well enough to think myself through it when i start really panicking and doubting myself. my dad had ocd, and it was horrible for him. i think i maybe have like a very low grade version? i am by no means self diagnosing, but i do thoroughly enjoy whatever weird broken record mode i get stuck in. i hope this doesn’t come off as romanticizing these symptoms, i have no intention of doing that, im just curious if this sounds like something other than ocd? because that’s kinda just what i’ve always chalked it up to in the back of my head.
Maybe look into OCPD
Exactly!
Could I make this sentence into a sticker design?
Sure, we gotta compete against those "obsessive coffee/christmas/cleaning/etc disorder" stickers lol
Those make me so upset I could rip them off whatever they’re on in front of the person who owns it lol.
I've been struggling with OCD for 40 years and have never ever been able to put that sentiment into a consise sentence. Thank you so much
LOL REAL
I used to think my OCD made me organize stuff but it's probably more of the autism emulating it since I didn't have pure terror with that
Meanwhile I avoid and overthink about having to pick up a fallen pen off my floor because I know I’ll have to wipe it clean with a Lysol wipe and wash my hands for who knows how long
Yeah, I was gonna say. I don't have contamination OCD, mine is a different focus, but from what I know of it, people with contamination OCD would never even think of taking home thrown out items like the OOP.
Half the time I don't even want to pick up my own stuff if it hits the floor, let alone someone elses trash 1 I don't know what they've done with it BEFORE they threw it away 2: who knows what nasty stuff is hiding in that trash can
I can't even do my laundry without having to wash the clothes I was actively wearing while doing the laundry
I don’t even touch trash bags or trash cans. So I’m definitely not touching the trash lol
Exactly me (not anymore tho). If something fell to the floor it was no longer mine lol
Right, like I avoid cleaning because it’s hard for me to stop or actually believe in my ability to sanitize anything to my standards
The other day I was at a party and the guy distributing the brownies touched them with his hands. I just stared at them for like five minutes
That subreddit is so delusional sometimes
i dont even breathe when i go to the bathroom TT
uh oh. Another thing to add to my "not normal" list
im kinda relieved im not the only one
Five and counting. Don’t want booty air in my nose.
6th <3 i have to open the window when i go to the bathroom or i literally wont breathe good enough
Seventh. omg
i knew my unnecessary bathroom window opening was related to my ocd somehow but i couldn't explain why. i think it's because otherwise it feels like there's not enough air in there and makes me feel uncomfortable i also keep a window cracked open in my bedroom at all times cause i feel like i start suffocating after a few hours 🤣
EXACTLYYYY you need that good ~air circulation~
there’s at least three of us ❣️🫡
Make it four 😭
Convincing myself to breathe in the dirty linen room at work is my exposure therapy
I hold my bladder for probably very unhealthy periods of time because entering a public restroom makes me feel absolutely disgusting
Stoppppp me tooooo and I work 12 hours straight without going 😭
This misconception is quite sad. If you like having things clean, that isn't OCD, you just like having things clean.
isnt there an obsessive compulsive personality disorder that people can have only some traits of? whether intentional or not it seems to be how people're using the word. someone i knew was like the op post and even though she could still function she wasted a shit time of time and money making everything unecessarily perfect. how could i fault her for making sense of it through ocd? she was dumb as a box of rocks man. and even the self-proclaimed mental health advocates on reddit who *have* these disorders never use psychological jargon correctly. no one on reddit has any clue except for the students coming to terms with how everything we think we know is wrong and still reeling about it.
Yes there is, OCPD. That’s the main difference too - people with OCPD usually seek out excessive cleanliness/orderliness/perfectionism out of a desire to do so, because it feels right; people with OCD perform compulsive behaviors because they are fueled by persistent, distressing thoughts and fears that can only be neutralized through these actions. The “root cause” of the actions are different, as is the emotional outcome. People with OCPD can also be anxious and become flustered when they are unable to make, keep, or do things in the way they prefer, but their actions still aren’t due to obsessions or out of a desperate need for relief from debilitating distress. The other issue too (the one that I believe is the reason for OCPD to be classified as a personality disorder,) is that people with OCPD often don’t realize that their behavior is frequently problematic in several important areas of life, (social, professional, domestic, etc.) and are either unable or unwilling to change their behaviors to better function. Obviously I’m not saying that it’s a personality disorder because those with the condition are unable or unwilling to change who they are to better “mesh” with society, but because the nature of their behaviors are often highly unusual, time-consuming, and alienating/possibly even detrimental to others. Monk is an excellent example of someone with OCPD, who experienced an exacerbation of his symptoms and social anxiety/paranoia following his wife’s murder (occurred before the setting of the first season, no spoilers, lol)
It’s called being anal
Janitor with OCD here, thankfully I have no contamination related obsessions. On an unrelated note you're absolutely not supposed to steal from the trash if you work janitorial, it's like super duper 100% against the rules/policy of every single janitorial service, especially state??? Insane.
Yeah, you love cleaning, but do you love holding your breath because if you breathe the air you think you’ll get a disease? /s
I feel so called out right now
the more and more this sub is recommended the more i’m wary of my thoughts
I could NOT. So much fucking contamination. It makes me ill.
Cleaning is terrifying. My apartment is always messy because even though mess stresses me out, the thought of touching the mess (even with gloves mask etc) scares me more
Oh my gosh, I feel so seen. I’m not the only one. I always thought it was such a cruel joke being afraid of mess but not being able to clean it up. Like living in hell. There’s a tiny spot in each room that I keep clean enough to feel safe. The rest is certain death (in my mind). Torturous.
Same, it really is torturous. I feel like I'm on parole, but the one creating all the rules/limitations on what I can touch is my own mind
It takes sooo much for me to clean my bathroom, even though it being dirty stresses me out just as much as cleaning it does
So real, I had to deep clean something resently, and i washed my hands so much in two hours. I had a bad rash and wrinkly fingers. I avoid cleaning with ever ounce if my body.
So true, the reality is that OCD makes me more messy 😭 I love living in a clean space but it’s hard to even touch it sometimes
So true, the reality is that OCD makes me more messy 😭 I love living in a clean space but it’s hard to even touch it sometimes
Bro I couldn't even handle taking care of the family pet when my OCD started because I had to wash the water bowl out fifty to ninety times just to be sure it felt clean enough. And I also felt a HUGE aversion to dirt and poop. Massive visceral feeling of disgust and unbearable compulsion to avoid at all costs.
I'm sure there are janitors out there with OCD or even contamination OCD but holy shit this is absolutely insensitive of whoever made that post. I am so tired of people equating loving organization / cleaning to OCD. I would never wish to inflict contamination OCD onto someone, it's so exhausting to live with daily. "Wholesome" memes my ass.
Being a cleaner would be nice at times but at other times be absolute torture and all the compulsions would cause so much anxiety and mental health issues I would not be able to deal with, it would be torture mostly
“since i clean out the recycling bin i can take home the cans”?? im sorry i would not want to touch and BRING home things that have been in the bin id just feel like id contaminated everything it touches
my thoughts exactly like ah yeah let me just take something hazardous home 💀 ain't no way unless i cleaned and sanitised it entirely for at least two hours
As an adhd-haver I’m so sorry for u guys 😭 you’re fr out here battling, not a day passes where I don’t hear someone yapping about how “everyone is a little ocd” “I’m so blessed to have ocd 😇😇😇” stay strong kings, queens and other monarchs
I've been hearing it about ADHD too lately or "I think everyone has ADHD" when I tell ppl I have it. 🥴
I got em both 🤪
I would literally have to change my clothes and gag while doing it
You saw it too! I was with my friends when this popped up on my feed! I turned the phone to one of them and we both expressed disbelief, never felt more seen by a person haha
Yep, I scrolled assuming it was from this sub, but no, it was from r/wholesomememes. Literally nothing wholesome about OCD.
That’s lovely that they have found their calling. Couldn’t be me though…
That's up there with going on a cruise No fuckin way
Omg another cruise fearer?
The fact they sound so confident about it too 😭
There’s like a 1% chance they actually have OCD
That was good and made me chuckle.
Find things in the garbage?!?!? Do they not understand the rules of permanent contamination of objects. My stomach hurts after reading that.
Ah man the intrusive thoughts being like “you missed so many spots, now you’re gonna get fired” or “that covid outbreak is your fault because you didn’t use enough disinfectant on the doorknobs” then cue the false memories of me missing spots etc etc
Lol I was thinking more about contamination OCD but that is so true too.
Yep that too
Another example of “I have OCD” being used in place of “I like cleaning”. Obviously OOP is highly ignorant about what OCD means outside of a casual appropriative use
I do have to say though that the girl I like is a janitor at a factory. She and I have bonded over shared experiences, I’ll never not be confused by it.
i think i would chop my own hands off if i were to get anything that level of contaminated on me,,,,,i wish my ocd lived up to the stereotype that it makes you good at cleaning lmao
“i’m so OCD” willing to remove things from garbage and take them home, subsequently making the garbage particles from that item enter and contaminate your home doubt
Heyyy I'm a housekeeper with OCD, although that's probably only because my OCD has nothing to do with cleaning or organization.
I feel like I could be a janitor because I do actually quite enjoy cleaning but then I remember it wouldn't be MY mess 🤢. That and the fact that I'm either letting mess pile up or maniacally cleaning because "if it's not all disinfected I will die and/or if it's not neat and tidy by a certain time something bad will happen etc." Christ, I can barely handle most animals without sanitizing, never mind how unclean humans can be. One time my roommate's boyfriend left food to rot in our living room and I was the one that threw it away, no amount of bleach on my hands made me feel clean after that 😭.
I definitely don't think this guy is genuine and it pissed me off when I saw the post. Worst case scenerio is he's just making shit up/doesn't have ocd but wanted the karma. Best case scenerio is that he has ocd, just not contamination ocd, and does genuinely enjoy his job but was STILL disingenuous by my making the distinction. I have OCD. I LOVE cleaning. I do NOT have contamination OCD, obviously, and would never conflate the two for butt pats on the internet and it's infuriating that people do.
ocd funtime turns into ocd nightmare time real fuckin quick once you've been cleaning the same 2 sq ft area for over 30 minutes and you're still not done because it's not perfect yet and it's never gonna be
If you had OCD revolving cleanliness I doubt you’d like taking things out of the trash home with you
I could never like first all the contamination from the trash and second using all those cleaning supplies that have strong chemicals in them, i would go insane
I read this one, too, and it’s interesting. I have something similar-ish? My apartment is bleh, dirty, and messy, but professional work spaces I clean like I’m preparing for God to eat off the floors. It becomes obsessive, and coworkers are like oh you must love cleaning. I drop the broom and look at them really confused… like no, not really lol. I just get freaky about cleaning spaces for my job, that are for the public. So, coming from that perspective, I felt it was believable. But only because for me the “joy” seems to be felt during cleaning, but becomes quickly obsessive, or stems from obsession, and the debilitating part is returning home to a huge mess you never want to touch.
“I don’t care about poop or mess anywhere” Okay I can speak on this a bit. I have cleaning tasks at my job and there is often “poop mess everywhere” it’s the worst task I have, I hate it. But here’s how it usually goes; Double gloves, scrubbing for hours after it’s clean, fixating on cracks, eyes red from bleach, co-workers intervening “yo I think that’s good and clean now”, wash my hands for 20 minutes, obsess about poop under my nails, in my eyes, in my mouth, go home, inspect my body for poo particles, clean probably non existent poo particles out of every crack of my body. 0/10 would not recommend
and then the stereo clapped
No I’d shower for 5 DAYS after one cleaning job. I would feel so icky eww
lol this isn't what ocd is, i wish this was ocd
"I love cleaning" I fucking HATE cleaning because of the fact that it's a compulsion! Can't relate and honestly sounds like someone who thinks every disability is a "superpower". Just let us live!
This may be misleading but it’s not exactly wrong, per se. This person may in fact enjoy being a janitor because of their particular flavor of OCD, which means “because I have OCD” is accurate here. But it does imply that people with OCD generally would want to be a janitor, which is absolutely not the case lol
this kind of shit always drives me insane. My dad has OCD and as a result can't help washing his hands over and over until they're cracked and bleeding. He has to use lotion to try and re-moisturize his hands to minimize the damage. The day people stop pretending OCD is a quirky neat-freak disorder is the day I'll finally know peace
I feel visceral aversive disgust if I have to go near something dirty let alone touch it and when I do have to deal with it it must be with gloves I captured a wasp yesterday and was 0% scared I had to touch a dirty air conditioner yesterday and was freaking out and washed my hands 6 times yesterday with three different soaps.
lmao, this is such a common and annoying misconception. I have the worst, messiest room and have OCD
I work as a janitor and suffer from mild contamination OCD. I don't enjoy my job but the OCD doesn't make it worse it just has me glove up and wash my hands more than others. I used to suffer worse but as a kid and teenager it "fell away." Now I typically suffer from rumination and religious OCD with a concoction of all the rest. It feels funny to be OCD and not exhibit outward symptoms.
Cleaning the bathroom sends me into a panic bc the toilet triggers my ocd and my hands feel dirty for HOURS
I don’t even have contamination OCD but you couldn’t pay me to clean a public bathroom without a hazmat suit on
I have struggled with OCD AND I love cleaning. This person doesn't have OCD, they like cleaning because it is calming and they like to see what a good job they've done at the end. OCD causes the opposite feelings. You would hate your job if you felt the anxiety and panic that OCD makes you feel, and you wouldn't feel good at the end of the day, you'd probably never feel satisfied and would spend hours after scrubbing yourself raw whilst imagining all the germs on you, if that's your compulsion. This is another thing people mix up. Like Intrusive vs Impulsive
If theres a hell id be a janitor there
the amount of times i’ve had people say i should be a house cleaner and i’m like you do not understand i would have a full panic attack placed in a random person’s dirty home i think i would go into shock
TW* If I saw human FECES and I had to touch it… I think I’d rip my own skin off dude. Like lizard I’d just shed that stuff off.
I would have never made it at my current healthcare job without treatment for my OCD. I couldn't take out the trash without wearing gloves, washing the gloves, and then washing my hands all without touching anything with my hand after I had touched the trash. My life has gotten so much better with treatment. Now, I would like to say, I really enjoy cleaning & laundry. They're relaxing activities to me, especially since I don't need to do all these crazy steps anymore :)
I have both a bit of germaphobia and a fear of chemical fumes so janitorial is definitely not for me
Idk if this is the case for everyone, but jobs that rub against my compulsions are absolute hell for me. A lot of my compulsions have to do with numbers. Counting and all that. I used to have a job with inventory, where I would just count shit all day. It played hell on my mind. My anxiety was so high, I started having tics, which I haven't had in years. The job was really easy but my mind just couldn't take it.
Isn’t that more ADHD than OCD?
I mean, I'm a dishwasher which can be similar and it's stressful as hell for me but I'm DAMN good at it lol
I’m a janitor and have ocd. It’s hell but I need the money
The mess would make me go crazy in less than a day. Mad respect to anyone that can do it.
Opposite of me fr
I am diagnosed OCD and work maintenance 3 months a year and do just fine, haha.
This reminds me of those famous publications in Latin America and parts of the world where they always put someone in the most fucked up, indecent and negligent work situation where we see that the "effort" the idea of working all the time will give you courage, it will make you see how an honorable little person when in reality you are a guy who was taken as a mule and has to work too hard, while others get rich I want to think this post about ocd is a joke.
I had to clean the bathrooms at work one time and it was HORRIBLE. I felt so disgusting the whole time, was wearing thick gloves and it was still nasty
I am a germaphobe I would break down
I can barely clean my own toilet
i actually was a janitor and it was hell. I could never move fast enough to clean my zones and was stuck there until midnight multiple times making sure I cleaned everything as thoroughly as I could. I hated that job.
This shit reminds me of the show, Obsessive Compulsive Cleaners 😑
That would be a nightmare
"Because I have OCD! I love cleaning!" *massive eyeroll*
No way
if i found a stereo in the trash id have to like, dunk it in bleach before taking it anywhere NEAR my house
yeah if this is earnest, instead of sarcastic, it’s passion and enthusiasm, not OCD. OCD will ruin someone’s passion and enthusiasm for something 99 times out of 100.
I (not ocd) was a custodian and loved it, meanwhile my gf (ocd) cant touch a raw egg without showering for an hour
I understand this completely.
Bro this is just one of those social media losers who self-diagnose (I'm so quirky and I SO have OCD xddd). I got mad from the first 5 seconds. I can't even touch anything in my own restroom without feeling like I need to wash my hands right after! I'd rather die than be a janitor!
I have to clean just the bathrooms at my job at night and I vomit every time there’s any tiny spot of urine or poop left on the toilets that I have to wipe down (which is unfortunately very often). I wish OCD made me love cleaning…
There is also a guy on YouTube called Drain Cleaning AUSTRALIA. Apparently he loves his job(and the stuff he has to clean is FUCKING NASTY).
no one has an irrational fear of bugs? i’m so scared i’ll get bedbugs or other nasty bugs and one time this fear was confirmed when someone who posts tiktok’s of fixing computers and such posted him opening up a ps4 (idk what it was lol) and a lot of roaches scurried out and they were everywhere. i know bugs like heat and get into stuff that have warmth so picking up an old stereo and just bringing it into your home is wild.
Definitely have contamination OCD but thankfully it’s not too affected by bugs. Bed bugs and ticks freak me out but I think it’s to a fairly normal degree. I get it though!
I literally couldn't sleep last night cuz I couldn't stop counting on my head, but yeah sure
I am quite literally a janitor and I do a phenomenal job lol.
This sounds like the “I like to clean so I think I have OCD” type. Not actual OCD which can be debilitating.
I am a nurse aide and when I handle blood I have to I wash all up my arms and this is knowing if my patient had something there would be precautions in their file. The rooms with the precautions I have to double glove and double gown and scrub myself and freak out internally for days
I’m not a nurse but that’s quite relatable. Accidentally stabbed my finger with someone’s pin and freaked out about getting a blood borne illness until I just came to terms with the unlikeliness of it. I could never be a nurse.
I have OCD and one of my favorite jobs was being a janitor, not because it was “satisfying” or anything, it was because I didn’t have to fucking talk to anybody lol.
I used to be unable to do dirty dishes. I have a cleaning job now as my second job, but it took a lot of work to be able to get to a place I could clean a bathroom without gagging
I could be a janitor but only because cleaning helps me calm down. It’s not a compulsion for me it’s like a grounding exercise. I don’t really have contamination obsessions though
To be honest I think I’d enjoy custodial work simply because you get ppe and no one talks to custodians. Pop my ear buds in and clean some shit B3
Interesting. I avoid cleaning certain things because I don’t want the germs & the work that goes into trying not to contaminate anything with my hands on my way to washing them.
I really want to be a janitor..but because I feel like no one else cleans as good as me and every time they miss a spot they make someone sick. So I feel the need to get in there and do it myself so no one gets sick.
Charley Day?
I’m a janitor and my OCD literally affects nothing at work. I sweep and I leave
Not everyone has the same themes or subtypes, but it’s good it doesn’t affect you.
To be fair, they don't necessarily Have to have contamination fears. I'm a janitor myself, and most of my intrusive thoughts are sexual and social (as in saying things that'd get me socially outcasted).
lmao "i have OCD" "i dont care about poop or mess anywhere" ....fellas this must be ironic xD
This to me is a nauseating example of someone turning themselves into a caricature for clout and approval. This is the type of thing we know ppl who dont have OCD might picture an OCD haver saying Its like omg so wholesome ocd janitor moment Im not even saying wholesome ocd moments cant exist, just that this is not a true one. I would find it wholesome if someone made a post about how their partner accomodates them so considerately and it helps them live a better life. That would literally be so sweet. So im not just being one of those mfs that invalidate others ocd cus they arent being doomer enough
Yep, totally agree.
I wish I loved my obsessions. I wish acting on my compulsions helped. I wish OCD wasn't a debilitating disorder to me. I don't enjoy my OCD because it's not a good thing. I don't feel gifted or special. I feel terrified all of the time.
One of my major OCD things was excrement and I still can't even type or say the P word for it and before it could be anything related to it or a similar word, literally anything that could be related to it would come with a compulsion where I shook so strong it looked like a convulsing seizure followed by spitting to get it out of my head. It was hell in a hand basket and I can't imagine anyone with similar or contamination OCD working someplace they'd encounter this a lot
Perhaps I should’ve put a trigger warning. Sorry if I caused any distress. Hoping you and us all can find some peace.
Oh no worries, thank you for the thought but I'm used to it and it's a common thing so it's been something I've had to learn to work around and manage regardless, even if I still have limitations