Anxiety over household items

[Delly88]

Hi,

We renovated our house just over four years ago and as items are now getting damaged through general wear and tear I have developed serious anxiety constantly checking for marks and damage until I find something and then obsessing over them.
This has now been happening for the last 3 months and it is taking over my life.
We have busy lives and two wonderful children, who I don’t want to feel on edge on their home.
I have tried to seek help and currently started taking SSRIs which I am hoping to calm my mind down but I just want this anxiety to go away.
Has anyone else dealt with anything similar? Have you found any good coping mechanisms?

What is your specific worry? Is it financial (the cost of replacing them) or sentimental (things that can't be replaced) or something else?

What happened three months ago?

I’m not really sure what happened three months ago, but that is when I started to get the urge to constantly check things

The worry is that I just hate things not being in a good condition. I find a new mark or damage every day and then I will fixate and keep looking at it.

Sounds like OCD? Can you train your mind to tell you that the odd mark on an item or wall is normal? I make a list of things which are fixable/ repairable/. This helps me to see what needs doing. Otherwise I become a bit overwhelmed with all the house jobs!

Good luck OP 🌼

Can you tie this feeling to anything that’s happened in the past? Did you feel the same about childhood toys, for example?

Edited to add, what’s do you think when you see a mark or blemish? Can you be precise about your thoughts?

I think you are right it is some kind of form of OCD most the items are replaceable I suppose at the moment it’s all around my kitchen cupboards but as I have two young children I can’t keep replacing for every mark as they will inevitably get bumped again although I know this, sometimes I can’t help looking and obsessing about the damage

How old are you? Could you be peri?

37, a few people have said this too me but I haven’t asked for bloods yet