- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 1y
New here and not sure if I belong
I’ve struggled since childhood with anxiety. Specifically separation anxiety. My father passed away when I was 10 and I believe his illness and death is what started my anxiety. I am now 57 years old with two adult daughters. I have horrible anxiety about something happening to my younger daughter. She’s had health issues and we’ve been through a lot over the years. Even so, my anxiety about her is way out of proportion to reality. I fear for her every time she leaves the house. She just left to go shopping and I know that within an hour or so I will be wanting to check her location on my phone. Then if for some reason her location doesn’t seem right (like if it stays in one place on the highway for what I think is an extended amount of time) I’ll start to panic and text her. If she doesn’t answer I’ll call, and call, and call. All the while my brain is making up the most horrible scenarios such as car accidents, abduction, illness, tornados and on and on. It’s to the point that she now answers her phone with “Hi Mom! I’m fine!” I go through the same thing if she has a headache or is tired or nauseous. I can never just think “ she should go lie down. She’ll feel better in a bit.” I always have to Google her symptoms to try and see what could be wrong. Does anyone experience similar? I guess my obsessions are the thoughts that something bad will happen and my compulsions are having to check and check and check?