Ever dealt with Scrupulosity?

Image by rafaelm via Flickr

From Gloria

I have a question that I am hoping one or more of you can help me with. I suffer from OCD - obsessive compulsive disorder - and both of my daughters do as well. Mine are of the checking, counting, ordering type. My youngest daughter, 21, has always had sensory type obsessions with clothing and social anxiety issues. My other daughter who is 23 has gone through a large variety of OCD's, one often replacing another over the years. She has had anorexia, then compulsive eating, then panic disorder, depression, fear of germs, but the very worst thing she has faced, the obsession that is really most overwhelming is scrupulosity. She has dealt with this since she was 17. She is sure, on a regular, daily basis that she has sold or will sell her soul to the devil and she is terrified that god will reject her and turn his back on her. She deals with this fear constantly, day in and day out. It is overwhelming her.

When she was 17, I still believed as a Christian. My husband and I raised our daughters in church, taught them the bible, prayed with and for them and believed fully in god. So my daughter believes she is capable of losing her salvation for rejecting the god she loves and believes in. I no longer believe in god or the bible but this is a very recent development, and not one I have yet shared with my daughters as I am not sure how they or their dad will accept this. I did mention my early feelings about this change of belief to my husband and he didn't take it well at all. He would not want me to tell our daughters, of that I am sure.

Anyway, here is my question: Have any of you who might be reading this ever had scrupulosity or dealt with others who did? Did realizing that god isn't real and the bible is untrue, etc. have any effect on this obsession, IE. did this allow you to let go of it because you found out that there was no Satan, no hell, no punishment?

I so badly want to help my daughter rid herself of this obsession. I, of course, can see that it is ridiculous to drive yourself crazy over these religious questions when none of that is real anyway but I don't know if trying to get her to see that god, Satan, heaven, hell are lies and non-existent is the best way to help her. Therefore, I am asking if any of you good people have any experience with this or can offer me any advice. I live in a very remote area, with very little help available for OCD, let alone something as rare as scrupulosity. I could use some feedback.

Thanks for reading.