Specific, difficult-to-trigger OCD

(How can you do ERP when there is a legit concern?) Trigger warning for Contamination OCD/coronavirus. For instance, I’m pregnant right now and have had a resurgence of contamination OCD. (I also have GAD, so I’m never sure which tactic to take with a thought.) Health really is a legitimate concern here, and I’m told I should be more careful. Of course I overdo it, yet ERP seems to be the exact opposite of being more careful and that seems very, very unwise. How do you do exposure for something that your doctor says to not do? How do you do exposure for something like, for another unrelated example, not wearing a mask around other people right now in the time of the pandemic when you’re absolutely required to wear a mask and it’s dangerous to not? ERP basically doesn’t make sense to me. By that thinking I should be changing the litter box and not washing my hands and *I definitely should not do that*. How do you do ERP when there is a legitimate aspect of an actual concern?

Not sure about you guys, but I’ve been desperately looking for a job since last December and I’ve had no luck. The uncertainty of whether or not I’ll find a job drives me nuts and triggers my OCD like nothing else has before. At the beginning of my job search, it was the typical I’m afraid to do it response from OCD. But I realized that a good way to treat the issue was through exposure and applying for jobs. Just put myself out there and eventually something will land… right? Well… it’s been 6+ months already and 300+ job applications in. And not a single interview. Just a bunch of automated rejection emails or at best, a recruiter saying “I’ll forward this resume to the hiring manager” but I get ghosted in the interview process. Not sure what else I can do to treat the anxiety at the point. No job=worthless=loser=no $$ or so I’m led to believe by my OCD. I’m also getting the “you’re lazy” response from those around me whenever I tell them I still haven’t found a job. I’m staring down a black bottomless abyss at this point. Is there something else I can do to treat my OCD? Should I just accept the worst case scenario that I’ll never find a job and I’ll be indeed worthless?

I only recently was diagnosed with OCD and have started my journey which I am proud of, but am struggling with finding balance because of the dissonance between my work responsibilities and ERP. I have been attracted to the career I am in because I care about doing right by others, and I have a passion for helping leaders create a healthy environment for the people on their teams. I also of course like clear expectations, writing and following rules, so educating on policies and procedures is a strong suit. Unfortunately, I am just recently learning that a big theme for my OCD includes moral scrupulosity and it has opened my eyes to see why I have struggled so much mentally the past year. I work in HR as a team relations specialist which means I make recommendations on how managers should address issues with their teams, i investigate employee concerns or allegations, and also advocate for team members when they are being treated unfairly. Additionally my job involves doing nonstop documentation of the content of every call we have, every email received and sent to us etc. we then have to save them as files and write notes summarizing each file or piece of correspondence and key information from it. (There is very much the mindset of there being no such thing as too much documentation at my company) I have noticed that since taking this job a little over a year ago, I have not been ok. I love the work I do and the good moments where I feel like I helped someone. I also love that the company and managers put so much weight on doing the right things, but the expectations put on those of us in the roles also feeds my OCD and reinforces my compulsions like getting reassurance that my thinking is right, ruminating, or checking and rechecking. It also gives strength to the arguments OCD makes to me about needing to analyze excessively to make sure I am not missing anything, or that I am not mistakenly engaging in cognitive biases and factoring them into my recommendations. Since I have a large influence over how situations with team members are handled my OCD emphasizes this and convinces me that if I do not do my job adequately or make a compelling argument, I am doing a disservice to the team members I support.....but so does the HR leadership at the company. It is consistently emphasized that we are expected to be the ultimate moral voice in every circumstances and that we are responsible for remaining 100% objective in guiding leaders on what to do to ensure all risks are assessed, taken into account and avoided in addition to us making sure leaders are doing right by their teams. Many of the others in my role like myself also keep spreadsheets during investigations we conduct that documents all perspectives in situations of people we interviewed, track definitive evidence, and analyze all factors/ devils advocate arguments to ensure appropriate steps are taken to address and that every situation is handled fairly. I'm finding that even though I tend to be behind on work because of my just right struggles with documenting and investigations, I am seen as a star performer in my role because I am hyper-empathetic, scrupulous, and risk aversive. Unfortunately, those same qualities makes my OCD obsessions and compulsions stronger. Not sure if there is anything I can really do at this point because finding a new job isn't an option right now, I just needed to get this off my chest and see if anyone has experienced similar where they found themselves in a spot where their work responsibilities were at odds with their recovery or made it more challenging to use ERP tools.