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Smells


purple-chick

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im completely obsessed, with smells. its been going on for years.

i have to smell everything, and its getting alot worse!!

i dont just mean like perfumes or flowers, i mean EVERYTHING!

i try to disguise it infront of people, but everyone around me is starting to notice it.

its so embarrasing, and i know its very weird, but i just cant help it.

and the more strange the smell, the more times i have to smell it :wacko:

does anyone else get this or am i alone??? :unsure:

xxx

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Hi purple

What do you feel as you do it? Is it a nice feeling, an anxious feeling, a 'driven' feeling, or something else? With the smells that you only need to smell briefly, does the feeling change when you feel able to stop smelling it? If you feel you have to carry on, what feelings come up then?

Ross

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its sort of the same feeling i used to get smoking a ciggie. its like i didnt like the smoke in my mouth, but i just NEEDED it, if that makes sense???

xx

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Hellooooo

Well, you might be pleased to hear there is something out there that might help you, if stopping is what you would most like? :)

Its a little CBT trick called Exposure and Response Prevention. Here is a snippie from the wiki:

Exposure and response prevention (ERP) is a treatment method available from behavioral psychologists and cognitive-behavioral therapists for a variety of anxiety disorders, especially Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. It is an example of an Exposure Therapy.

The method is predicated on the idea that a therapeutic effect is achieved as subjects confront their fears and discontinue their escape response. An example would be of a person who repeatedly checks light switches to make sure they're turned off. They would carry out a program of exposure to their feared stimulus (leaving lights switched on) while refusing to engage in any safety behaviors. It differs from Exposure Therapy for phobia in that the resolution to refrain from the avoidance response is to be maintained at all times and not just during specific practice sessions. Thus, not only does the subject experience habituation to the feared stimulus, they also practice a fear-incompatible behavioral response to the stimulus. While this type of therapy typically causes some short-term anxiety, this facilitates long-term reduction in obsessive and compulsive symptoms.[1]

Ive used it myself for stuff in the past and it has worked. The idea would be:

1. Notice you have the urge to smell the thing

2. Deliberately stop yourself

3. You may well become very anxious or uncomfortable.

4. Try to stay with the discomfort - up to now, you will have always given into it and it will feel like you MUST smell it. The more you resists, the more anxious you may become. However, what you may not have found out in the past is that anxiety is like a wave - it rises up, peaks and then subsides. What you are aiming to do is tough it out long enough to let it subside.

5. Stay with the anxiety long enough so it subsides.

6. Repeat each time the impulse comes up. In this way, the brain learns a new behavioural response, and the anxiety will decrease each time you do it. It will need to be done again and again though, but you should hopefully see results fairly quickly.

If you 'relapse' and do it again, dont punish yourself, its just the nature of changing emotions that they can sometimes beat us. Just go back to doing it again, and little by little ....

Just a suggestion :)

Rossie

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omg i just tried it and its really hard to do!!!

i get really tight in my chest, and my tummy, when i try and stop myself. but i will persist with this, otherwise its gonna get out of control!!

thanx rossie :) xx

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OMG Im so impressed! :) I would have taken ages to want to try that ... you are so brave purpley!

Its horrid innit, those feelings that come up :( But the fact that you are feeling the feelings, shows that its working, however odd that may sound ...?

Massive hugz :hug2:

Ross

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did quite well on the whole sniffing front last night, but im doing really bad this morning!!

think its cos im really anxious that i have to go out and do things today, and also that i feel dissapointed in myself for getting drunk last night :(

oh and also iv noticed something VERY strange... harvey has the same sorta prob as me!!

as in he wont let anyone stroke him unless they let him sniff their fingers first!

i always knew this was abit odd, but never related it to my prob!

well they do say pets take after their owners!!

oh god well then there is no hope for the poor lil buggar! :lol:

xx

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi i stumbled across this thread an i wanted to say i smell EVERYTHING too !

if it smells wrong i get very distressed not sure what a right smell is however i have got off busses walked out shops and locked myself in the bedroom if my house doesnt smell properly i can certainly relate to the smelling EVERYTHING , the snippet from hummmmabbe is a technique they introduced into cbt recently iv still been way to terrified as to not smell everything ...however the british gas man who come to service my boiler looked at me rather strange when i asked for his ID card then proceeded to smell it !...

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