Anyone else find that their OCD is strongly connected to trauma?

You’d be better off continuing the work and avoiding the checking (both physical and mental) that you’re doing. Let your work become your exposure therapy. The reason I say this is that experts say that the way to recover from OCD is to keep living a life according to your values. For you, that would be continuing what you started and have almost finished. Also, chances are that your OCD would latch onto something else if it weren’t this, so leaving will just make you feel defeated and frustrated.

@Sunrise22 Thank you very much for the insightful advice. You are spot on about OCD latching on to some other aspect of my life. I can think of other obsessions I have that have nothing to do with work and would not be affected by me quitting. I wish I had the knowledge to help with your trauma. If the abuser lives in the same rural area as you that must be very difficult and anxiety inducing thinking you could go to the grocery store and run into them. Would it help if every time you left to go in public you could go over a plan in your head in case you do see this person? Planning exactly what you’ll say or how you’ll react might make it less traumatic? But maybe an expert would say that’s not the best advice and really you should work on not being re-traumatized by the idea of seeing them again. I really hope you can get help at home or through this app!

@rewho Thank you for your kind words! Fortunately I live across the country from my ex, so no worries about running into him ??

i feel you. it's difficult when OCD and trauma intersect. hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. a big theme for me has been keeping myself from experiencing the abuse again. things like, "if i breathe a certain way they won't hurt me" or "i have to have the exact right facial expression and body language or else they're going to abuse me" I've gotten alot better about it though. I live in a pretty big city and it's STILL so difficult to find ERP therapy. ugh