I recently have been experiencing a lot of anxiety concerning germs and the spread of diseases. My 10 year old little sister is kind of a dirt ball and always comes home with pink eye or ring worm or something from school. Whenever this happens I go out I my way to scrub the house clean of anything she has touched and all the things I touch.(I usually give the house a disinfecting every week or so just for good measure)I stay as far away from her and her things as possible and I scream for her to wash her hands after she touches anything.I feel really bad too but I can't help myself I have to keep the germs away from me at all costs. And i know if I did get ring worm it's not the end of the world but it doesn't ease my mind. And the funny thing is in public places I'm not obsessively concerned with germs that I won't touch door handles or anything, It's just if I see a person connected with something dirty or if it's in my house, I have to stay away at all costs.I also clean whenever I'm stressed, when i get bad news or when i have a test coming up, etc.And I wash my hands whenever I touch something that could potentially be dirty, ex. a remote(it does have germs but people don't generally wash their hands after touching your own one) and i constantly have to spit when i go near anything dirty, ex. dirty dishes. Idk, not trying to make it seem more than it is, my family keeps calling me a germaphobe and they say that I'm overreacting so I just wanted some answers.
Responses (1)
You might have Mysophobia, (the fear of germs) I'd recommend seeing a therapist to see if that could help you. The only thing I know about situations with anxiety like this is that if you want to get better you have to do the exact opposite of what you want to do. For example I have social anxiety disorder wich means even though I don't want to be social I have to or I'll become more and more reclusive. And while having alone time is still okay, isolation isn't, just like with cleaning.