I'm sick and tired of having to wash my hands multiple times a day as I believe if I don't something will happen to my health or appearance.
I'd like to add, even after washing my hands multiple these stupid thoughts will not go away and cause my a lot of anxiety. I can't live a normal life anymore, it's so sad.
It sounds like ocd
You have ocd my uncle has that bad he can't go anywhere without checking the locks on his house multiple times before leaving. My husband has a touch of that he can't stand for pictures to be crooked on the walls he has to fix them no matter where were at. Ocd comes in different forms like counting,checking,washing hands ect
If you get a box of vinyl gloves will this eliminate some of the washings. Use diluted hypoallergenic soap.
Thank you for the reply, is there any way I can fix this issue?
I'm starting to believe there's something wrong with the brain because my OCD has come in different forms. Could I have some sort of chemical imbalance in my brain?. I'd like to think I'm a fairly intelligent guy and I can overcome this problem however it doesn't matter how much I tell myself I'm being stupid this problem doesn't stop.
You have to challenge the negative, erroneous thought attached to the OCD behavior and get to the real underlying issue. For example you said you feel something bad will happen to your health or appearance if you don't keep this up. Where did that thought come from? Think about it. It came from somewhere, probably in your childhood. What used to be a coping defense in childhood becomes a stumbling block in adulthood. You may have needed it then but now it is hurting you so identify and grieve the loss and let it go.
Its has nothing to really do with washing your hands that how it manifest. Ocd is a very very string urge to respond to a thought. Whichever thought you are focusing on. It responds well to theraoy and meds. Speak with your doctor.
To be honest, I've thought about it. I wouldn't say washing hands alone is an issue here. It can be anything which I think will affect my health and apperance I tend to get OCD with. Now why I get this OCD is because I think when my health and apperance are good, I can live life at an optimum level and obviously when I believe something affects my health and appearance in a negative way this will not be achieved so I start to get really bad anxiety and hence OCD kicks in to get rid of this anxiety. Most times when OCD does kick in, it doesn't help, I'll still be very anxious.
I would get into therapy cause I don't see how one can stop ocd on their own, well if it's a bad case of ocd anyways. Because the hand washing could stop to pick up something else you obsess about. Please go to therapy I've known my uncle to have this when I was a child he never sought help and has had it majority of his life. He is in his 50's and I don't see it changing for him, but he don't seem to think he has a problem he also a very bad hoarder it's insane.