OCD Patient Forced To Deal With Period Blood In All-White Home

On last night’s Obsessed, a man with OCD — which, for him, manifests as germ phobia — endured exposure therapy that involved his therapist changing her tampon in his home, and then having him touch the washcloth she used afterward.

His therapist then asked him to touch his face, to confront his anxiety about the germs from the washcloth. When she asked him what was on his face, he answered, “Vaginal secretions, vaginal blood, endometriosis, fibroid juice…” (I love “fibroid juice” because it sounds like a supplement my mother would drink to make her poop.)

The guy in the clip is gay, and I’m curious to know if that contributes to how totally freaked out he his by the “tampon residue,” or if this is something that would affect a woman or a straight man with OCD. I say this only because I know a few gay guys without OCD who wouldn’t want to sit in the bathroom with me and talk about my used tampon.