Hello everyone. This fall I plan to move out of my parents house and live on my own. I’m extremely nervous about this. I feel like when I’m alone my thoughts and obsessions and anxiety get worse, and also a lot of the times I’m in such a bad place I can’t drive myself anywhere or feel safe anywhere, so I rely on my parents and my friends to drive me places or I won’t get out at all. Is it a bad idea to move out of my childhood home if I can barely do anything without extreme anxiety? I just don’t know what to do. I know I can live here forever and I have to move out eventually, but I feel like I’ll never really be ready.

Hello! I am really looking for some advice. I have been struggling with OCD for a few years now and it drastically affects my daily life. I am going to give a quick run through of my OCD, and then the current situation I am in now. So for almost 2 years now my most prominent themes of OCD have been getting sick with the stomach bug (emetaphobia) and watching someone die/ having to see large amount of blood or do CPR on someone (I just graduated nursing school). Last year I stopped eating out, wouldn’t touch any of my food with my hands, would wash my hands until they bleed every day, bleached everything I touched when I was in public etc… I would have these major panic attacks all the time and the thought of getting sick hasn’t left my head 24/7 for 2 years. I was unable to complete my nursing school clinicals due to panic attacks each time I was at the hospital afraid someone would die and get these terrible images in my head. I didn’t sleep ever, barely graduated. I did ERP after school and was able to make up the clinical days I missed. Got to a point where I was eating again, felt like I was able to get my hands clean just by washing them. I have been doing exposures every day, and have accepted that getting sick will probably happen at one point and I am okay with it as long as I am at home when it happens. So locking myself in my apartment for 48hr every time after I could have been exposed to the stomach bug is major progress for me and I have been overall doing much better. Fast forward to now: It’s time for me to start my new job on a med/surg floor in a hospital. This week I have made it through a few days of orientation with panic attacks day and night but I am doing it even though I am petrified. I don’t feel ready for this big of a step, being exposed to both of my biggest fears constantly. Today at orientation the girl sitting next to me told me she had been vomiting all day, and continued to run out of the room a vomit the rest of the day. I now am 90% sure I am going to get sick and feel as if I would rather die than continue this amount of stress and anxiety I have felt from just a few days of being on the job. This is my BIGGEST fear and it’s coming true and I don’t know if it’s worth putting myself through this every day at work to just be having constant panic attacks and be miserable. I know with OCD you have to face your fears but I have been pushing myself and trying so hard and I don’t feel like it’s worth it to work this job. I would also feel incredibly guilty for quitting on the first week, but there are a million other nursing jobs that are not in a hospital. I think this is too big of a step for me right now but I wanted to see what others think. Any advice at all is so appreciated!

I live in my parents’ house and they are currently redoing the roof and the insulation in the attic. My parents’ house is at least 50 years old. The only way into the attic is through my room. I knew I would have to relocate but now I feel like my room is contaminated and can just never been clean. I feel like everything needs to be thrown away that was exposed to the old insulation or touched by the workers. No matter what I do I just will always think that my room is dirty. Does anyone know how to push past getting stuck with these thoughts? Or dealing with people making you feel worse because they don’t understand?

I just found out today that a family friend will be staying over at my house (I live with my parents) for a night. And I have contamination ocd and that’s causing me anxiety. I fear that her being here will contaminate my home, which is like my safe place. It’s hard just sitting with the anxiety. I want this day to be over! Does anyone have anything to support me? Thanks