next week, we'll have the rest of our journey to the heart of dixie. don't go anywhere. "20/20" starts right now. tonight on "20/20," a stunning>2 journey that will g hope a millions of american families. children paralyzed by their own fears. crippling anxiety. >> i don't know what you're saying. what did i say? >> others, unable to go to school. it seemed hopeless. will she ever make it back to school again?

obsessive-compulsive behavior. tonight, access to --v: david muir, and what he discovers, breakthroughs. the children that break çaway from their fear, right before your eyes. now, david muir and elizabeth vargas. >> tonight, a stunning look at children and fear in america. every parent knows that watching a change suffer from fear andç anxiety is bheart-wrenching. ñ just getting out of the houe can be an enormous struggle. ñscience, what you're about to see a very

personal, powerful, and what we found at the end of thefá tunne left us speechless. >> reporter: inside this suburban office building in new jersey, a small yellow room, where a battle is about to play out right in front of our cameras. >> no! >> reporter: 15-year-old bridget looks like your typical teenager on the outside, but inside, she is wrestling to break free from unimaginable fear. and on this day, her progress is measured in inches. >> what do you think? >> it's like nine. >> okay. well, come on. look at that. >> reporter: her therapist is measuring the couch for bridget. >> you all right? >> reporter: every inch counts. >> you could lean against the -- >> arm. >> arm rest with your arm. >> from her elbow to her hand. it's good for you. okay. why don't you -- >> reporter: the woman at the other end of the sofa is about to move from her chair to the couch. >> tell me what's going on inside. >> she got so close. and she's never been this close before. she's never been this close

before. she's sitting on the same -- >> reporter: that woman who has bridget so terrified is her own mother. bridget believes her mother is somehow contaminated, and 1e bridget's fear is that her mother will contaminate her too. >> now, i want you to remember -- >> reporter: bridget has been diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder. her particular obsession, an irrational fear that her own family is somehow contaminated. and because of the contamination, she can't be near them. >> i just have to prove to her that i can do this. >> reporter: who is bridget talking about? the ocd, as if it were a person trying to control her. >> she's not gonna win this time because she's won too many times. she's just, it's just a trick and then this idea will go down. >> reporter: but on this day, the ocd is still winning.g# >> she's just really close. >> reporter: for bridget, it's become all-consuming.o@ r(t&háhc my life in the past six months. i haven't been able to be at home, touch any of my belongings that are at home.

i haven't really seen any of my friends. >> reporter: long before the worries, bridget was a beautiful little girl, smiling from ear to ear, growing up playing with her two older brothers, a star student at school in the gifted program, with a proud mother and father at home. a standout swimmer in the pool, a fish in the water. was beginning to crack came at a just 11, with what bridget's mother, karen, says was a need to be perfect at school. >> everything had to be 100, or she had to know every spelling word. then all of a sudden, she started to notice that her books had to be in a certain place, and she didn't want certain things touched. >> reporter: she noticed that you were a bit of a perfectionist, had to do everything perfectly with schoolwork and -- surprisingly, we're able to stand right next to bridget as we talked to her. why us and not her own family? her doctor says this proves just how irrational the ocd can be. bridget's mind is fixated on her own family, and the ocd won't

let go. >> eighth grade, miraculously, it was pretty much better. so i stopped taking my medicine, i stopped going to the therapist. and then that's when this came up. >> reporter: her ocd would come back with a vengeance.÷ú and this time, her fear had morphed into contamination. >> the contamination, and think about it as being something that's dirty, radiation or something like that. it spreads. >> reporter: bridget's doctor, allen weg. in bridget's case, how do you go from being a perfectionist to someone who can't touch her parents? can't even be in the same home with them? it seems so extreme. >> you have to think about ocd ú as sort of entering, entering a person's mind and looking around and saying, where can i cause trouble? and so, what better way for ocd to torture her than to say you can't be in the same home with your family. >> reporter: the doctor reminds bridget to keep her eye on the prize and all of the things she's had to give up, her family. it's been four months since she's been home. she lives with her grandmother nearly an hour away.

and all of that swimming she loved, that time in the pool, she's been forced to give that up too. >> she can go an inch. >> reporter: all right. let's just do an inch. >> inch? >> yeah. >> this way? >> yes. all right.p that's about an inch right from her. >> reporter: for so many parents, it is excruciating -- watching their children suffer, not knowing if they'll ever break away from their fear. >> it's overwhelming. that's really what it is, how it encompasses everything in your life and how i didn't realize it could grow to where it's, where it is now. >> reporter: the treatment we're allowed to witness is rarely shown on camera. it's what's called exposure and response prevention therapy. bridget must expose herself to  her fears to desensitize herself, getting closer to her mother one inch at a time.6z >> i feel helpless for her. i want to reach out and touch

her and hold her. and that's the one thing that i can't do to try to make her feel better. >> breathe through this. >> it's the last one for the day. >> reporter: bridget can't even speak. she whines and shakes on the couch. she doesn't want her mother to talk either. >> no, don't. don't. >> okay. now, your mom is sitting on the couch with you in my office. >> reporter: for bridget, this in and of itself is remarkable progress. during her last visit, her mother couldn't even sit on the couch at all. >> it's a trick of the brain pretty much.t( like, my mom just sitting on the ñ the ocd makes you believe more fear than there actually is. >> reporter: and bridget is hardly alone in her fight against fear, her fight against ocd.my rocco decorso was just eight years old when his mother took this video of him. >> mom, what did you say before? >> i don't remember. get the phone. >> mom! >> i don't remember. please get the phone. >> reporter: rocco's obsession revolves around the fear of getting sick, the fear about what could happen when he leaves for school. >> say, what did you say?

>> i don't remember. >> mom. >> i don't know what i said, honey. >> mom. >> i don't remember exactly what i said. >> mom, what did you say? >> reporter: the fear is relentless. he wants her to promise him nothing bad is going to happen. >> i can't answer you anymore.ym >> are you sure nothing bad is gonna happen? >> rocco, what did i say? >> reporter: he begs his mother to repeat herself. even for the most loving of moms, it can break you. >> i don't remember what i said. i don't know what i said. >> mom. >> why do you do that? >> reporter: his mother taking this video to show the doctor what they go through every morning together. these images captured just weeks before>:%s diagnosis. rocco has ocd, too. his fear of what if consumes him. >> and what about my day? >> rocco, i don't -- >> reporter: his parents told us it started when he was just five. >> i'll never forget going to a carnival, he was on a merry-go-round crying.ym like, you're supposed to have fun. why is this kid crying? >> even now, at times when he ç asks the questions, it's really hard to have the patience.

i mean, you know, we try. and sometimes you run out of patience. >> sometimes, you know, like get over it, knock it off, already, you know? >> sometimes you lose your patience. >> honey, i don't know what you're saying. i don't remember what i said about the day. you'll have a great day. why do you do this?koñ i said a -- i said a couple of things. >> the difficult part is he's five years old. he says, "i can't live like this no more." coming from a 6-year-old saying, "i can't live like this. i want to live with god.fá don't worry, mommy and daddy, i'll look down after you." that's tough. >> reporter: his parents tormented, watching their little boy struggle to get past his anxiety. all of this worry, and on this for the school bus yet. >> go. good-bye. >> reporter: we met liz ç mcingvale, too. m get out of bed for school. just 15 when she was diagnosed, her obsession is being clean.i] scrubbing herself until her skin is raw, and just one round of it is never enough.]i

>> i have to do it again, all over, because i feel like my hair touched the side of my arm, which my arms are all contaminated. so -- and this is just the beginning. >> reporter: so frustrated, some mornings, she punches holes in the wall. even with all this washing, liz still has to take a shower and pick out her outfit.÷ú >> some of these various shirts on this side are contaminated. this grey one is -- >> reporter: it takes several hours, even on a good day, just to get out of the house. >> actually, i have to wash my hands again because i accidentally touched that shirt. so -- >> my name is michelle. i'm 14 years old, and i have ocd. >> reporter: and finally, we met michelle, who is unable to go to school. >> would we be able to open the door or roll down the window? >> reporter: when we come back, what or whom is michelle so afraid of?]i and later, the little boy,

rocco. so consumed by fear. tonight, the breakthrough science we learned about just this week and the new tools every family can use right now p to help erase the fear. so five years ago you thout$t you had a game changer. now you're convinced you do. >> it's giving real hope to millions of children who before had no hope. ♪fame, makes a man take things over♪ ♪fame, lets him loose, hard to swallow♪ ♪fame, puts you there where things are hollow♪ the evolution of luxury continues. the next generation 2015 escalade. ♪fame

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once again, david muir, as "20/20" continues. >> reporter: 15-year-old bridget sits in the waiting room two seats apart from her mother. her obsessive compulsive disorder, her fear of contamination, prevents her from sitting any closer. you'll remember the last time they worked the entire time on simply sitting on the same couch. >> no. don't. don't. >> okay. >> reporter: karen has not been able to hug her own daughter for months now. and it is bridget who's in the driver's seat. it is a painstaking process every time. it's taken seven full therapy sessions just to get this far down the couch. her mother slowly moving her body closer.

all is going well until her mother reaches for her purse to pay the therapist.xd >> no, it's too close. get it away. >> reporter: bridget is afraid getting close to that purse will contaminate her. bridget tells the doctor she is done. and outside, she shows us how even leaving together is not easy. >> now, she has to come out and i close the door. because if she touches the door, then i can't touch the door anymore.u! >> reporter: all of this is many children with ocd, knows that, but she's still afraid that her mother and the rest of her family at home is contaminated. and bridget refuses to go there. her mother is about to drive her nearly an hour away back to herç grandmother's. remember, that is where bridget is now living instead. >> i can't put my feet or my shoes on the ground, so i take them off and then put them on top, and then i sit sideways. >> reporter: for bridget, everything is complicated, even the simplest of things, like getting into the car. she takes off her shoes, because they can't touch the floor of the family car.e1

>> so i can't be too close to her. before, i used to have to sit on my feet and they would become numb. >> reporter: while inside another car, another mother and daughter in their own relentless fight against ocd. >> what are you trying to tell your ocd? >> to get lost. >> okay. >> reporter: 14-year-old michelle leclair, who hasn't been able to step inside her school for four months now. her mother, diane, had to quit her job as a teacher to work full-time helping michelle fight her ocd. >> when she was going to schoolñ she would cry for an hour and a half every night, saying how difficult it was to go to school, but i couldn't touch her. >> reporter: michelle's ocd also involves contamination, but her fear is different. her family is fine. it's the kids at school she's afraid of, afraid they're dirty she can't go to school or anywhere in public where she has seen the other students. >> we had to go, like, hours away just to go get, like, a pair of pants or get cleaning supplies because everything

around here was contaminated. all the stores were, because the kids from school had been there. >> reporter: it is a crippling fear that has left her isolated at home. her laundry has to be done separately from the rest of the family. and one laundry cycle often isn't enough to convince michelle her clothes are clean. even the washer has to be washed. she showers incessantly at home, blistering hot water. at one point, her parents couldn't even get her out of the shower, not even when there was a brand new puppy waiting for her. >> we were gonna go get him puppy toys and take him to the store and she was so excited that whole day. and after an hour in the shower, i'm like, "we need to leave if you want to go," and she couldn't do it. i pulled her out of the shower, and she just sat on the floor, rocked and cried.0& >> reporter: her ocd taking over her life. doctors say, with children who have ocd, michelle plunged into depression. >> i became suicidal because i couldn't touch anything.

you can't enjoy anything. so there wasn't really a point in living anymore. >> reporter: a far different portrait from the little girl who was once a straight "a" student, a dancer, who loved dressing up, a child who once proudly displayed her smile. >> your school situation will be -- >> reporter: when we first met up with her, she'd already begun therapy with dr. weg. and now, she and her mother are taking the next step on their own, actually practicing going to school when the halls are empty. and they're headed to their first stop, the locker room. >> my heart is beating much faster now. and then, so i touch the doorframe and then do the door handle. >> reporter: the doctor has told michelle to touch what she's afraid of, what's dirty, and then to touch her own skin to prove that there's nothing to be afraid of.

the doctor has told her to keep track of her anxiety on a scale of 1 to 10. >> like a seven. >> touch the walls because you're not touching anything. you're taking little baby steps. michelle, you're not touching the walls. touch your hands, your arms, your face. >> i'm contaminating myself so that no part of me is considered, like, clean. >> right now, if you could do anything in the world, what would you be going to do? >> leave. take a shower. >> reporter: with the locker room now barely conquered, the next battleground, gym class. it's been five months since she stepped foot inside the gym. >> can you go over and touch the basketball? do you want to hit me? >> yeah. >> now, you know kids touched that, right? what does it feel like?

>> i think the germs are, like, coming into me and, like, going through my blood. >> reporter: her full-time coach, her mother, taking careful note of her progress. >> i'm very proud of what you did. you touched the walls, you sat on the, the bench. >> reporter: a proud mother and her daughter leaving school after their own sort of gym practice. while back in the therapist's office, bridget is about to take a huge step too. it's been eight hours of intense therapy with dr. weg, and she still has not allowed her mother to touch her. it's been months since mother and daughter have hugged. >> all right. that's pretty good. >> reporter: bridget and her mother grasp a small wand between them. >> this is huge. >> bridget? find your center. show her who's boss. do it, do it, do it, do it. just stay with it. just hold on.

>> reporter: this is the first time bridget has touched her mother in four months. >> i need your fingers. >> all of my fingers? >> yes. >> there it is. >> that feels really good. >> no, it doesn't. >> it's very difficult for parents to come in and not believe that they've done something wrong, that their kid has all these fears and, and strange and bizarre fears. what did i do wrong? >> reporter: once her fear subsides, the doctor pushes bridget to hold that hand again. >> let's have the hand back. good for you, good for you. okay. >> reporter: and as we were about to learn, bridget's ocd fight is far from over. what was it that led to this? >> no. >> reporter: and we wondered what's really going on here. when we come back, how often do you do this, check the locks, check the stove more than once? tonight, what these mris will show you. doctors can literally see the anxiety. and what the new science is now

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"20/20" continues, with the children who break away. once again, david muir. >> reporter: after four months at home, paralyzed by fear, afraid other students at school are contaminated, michelle tries to go back to school one class at a time. science class is first.

>> i felt like i need to, like, get back at the ocd and feel like i can do it. >> reporter: she's crossed the first big hurdle. she's there in class. but right away, within minutes of the first period, we notice michelle is already anxious about something, asking about the eighth grade prom and an overnight trip to hershey park. >> but you're going to hershey, right? >> reporter: it's a trip that is still two months away. but she can't imagine an overnight trip away from home. she's just trying to get through a day at school, science, shop class and lunch in the chaotic cafeteria. >> it's a little weird because the kids are, like, you know, like, where have you been? >> reporter: even the principal seemed uncertain about just how to handle michelle on her first day back. >> i put up my hand to kind of do a high five, and she didn't blink, and she high-fived me, and i knew we were on the right track. >> reporter: michelle has made it back to school. but next comes the real homework, the next battle in her fight against ocd. after school, she goes to

kohl's, the one department store she fears most. >> i'm, like, feeling anxious already just thinking about going. >> reporter: not because of the store itself, but because of the other students she has seen there. >> am i gonna be able to pull into the parking lot? >> yes, you can pull into the parking lot. >> okay. can you stick your hand out the window? what's happening? >> the germs are coming through. >> how does that feel? >> icky. >> reporter: michelle knows her fear is irrational, but that is ocd. >> what's going through your head, michelle? >> that i'm dirty. >> i'm gonna get out. >> no. >> i'm just gonna get out and stand right here. >> reporter: mom gets out of the car and then reaches down to touch the pavement. she then holds onto her daughter's hand to show her that nothing bad will happen. >> see, i touched the ground, you touched me.

>> reporter: and now, the hard part, actually walking toward the store, to the entrance that michelle hasn't walked through in over four months. >> the store is contaminated from the kids at school. >> reporter: what about the people out there who might say, you know, we're enabling these children and a little tough love would probably be better, just push them into the department store or -- >> think about when you're afraid of anything. if someone tries to push you against your will harder than you feel ready to, your tendency is to dig your heels in, to say, you know, to just pull back. they want to get better. >> do you want to walk back and forth? just on that line. >> the idea is that once you face your fear and you face it over and over and over again over a period of time, you become less sensitive to it. >> you can't go and run and touch the door and run back? okay. i won't push. you did good. how do you feel? >> i feel good. >> reporter: a hug from her

mother. a mini milestone before they head home for the day. while back in the therapist's office, bridget is still trying to get home. for her, it's been six months living away from her family. and bridget is about to face her next fear -- her mother now on the couch. next comes her father. >> you're 15. he's missed half of that year. he's waiting. >> i'm scared. >> reporter: her father walks in. but they ask us that we not show his face because he works undercover in law enforcement. she cannot make eye contact with her own father. >> when you feel ready, i'd like you to try to unball yourself. >> reporter: we sit in the room for 35 minutes. bridget still trying to calm down. she still can't even look in the direction of her own father. and then, the small steps begin. bridget musters the courage to look at her father's shoes. >> they are brown and black and

have laces. >> reporter: the doctor asks bridget to look beyond the shoes directly at her father. a full hour has gone by. she never looks. >> do you want to finish for the day? >> yes. >> do you want to finish for the day? >> reporter: her dad leaves the room. and we wondered, will she ever break through? will she ever go home? or will the ocd win? dr. david rosenberg is convinced bridget and the other children like her will conquer it. his team at wayne state and the dmc children's hospital of michigan is on the front lines of this fight against child anxiety and ocd. in a groundbreaking study looking at the mris of children who have ocd, they can actually see it. so these are all mris of children with ocd? >> exactly right. >> reporter: they're convinced there's a genetic component here, and that much of this comes down to the amount of a certain chemical in the brain.

in a child who has ocd, you see something in the brain. >> there's too little glutamate in certain areas of the brain, there's too much glutamate in other areas of the brain. >> reporter: the doctor says glutamate controls the brain's light switch. and when the balance is off, the switch short-circuits. so the part of brain that gives most of us the all clear when we're worried never gives the child that all-clear. >> and instead of getting the signal that "okay, i'm safe now," children with ocd get the signal that things are getting much more dangerous and unsafe. >> reporter: many of us check the doors when we leave the house, or the stove, sometimes two or three times. eventually, though, our brain gives us the message it's okay to move on. children with ocd and severe anxiety never get that message. instead of getting the all clear, which is what the rest of us get? >> exactly right. >> reporter: and tonight, here's something else. the amount of the chemical and where they find it in the brain can tell them which kind of ocd

your child might have. findings he just revealed in new york city. so a child who washes their hands over and over again is not the same as a child who checks the locks. >> we see different things in the brain, and they respond differently to treatment. >> reporter: he says it's a distinctiohis team was never able to make until now. so michelle and bridget are more contamination fears. have a different brain scan than rocco. so this is more rocco? >> that's more likely to be rocco. >> my name is elizabeth, and i have obsessive compulsive disorder. >> reporter: remember elizabeth? she was the teenager who once punched holes in her wall. she got help, exposure therapy and medicine. and since that home video, she became the national spokesperson for the obsessive compulsive foundation. how long did it take for you to get ready this morning? >> i'd say 30, 40 minutes. with a typical girl, how long it'd take a typical girl to get

ready. >> reporter: that's a huge feat. >> yeah, i can remember taking five to six-hour showers. >> reporter: and if she could do it, we wondered, what about rocco? during our five year journey, we've checked in with him. one visit took us to new york's central park. he'd been on antidepressant medication and therapy, and both were working. on this morning, he did struggle to get out of the house, but he got here and on to that merry-go-round. >> 17-1-1. >> reporter: 17-1-1. he boasts of his baseball team's record, but his parents know the biggest victory was just getting him here after all those mornings they couldn't get him out the front door. even for rocco, thinking back is painful. >> by putting a name to it, it helped rocco understand, "hey, i have ocd. okay, and this is how i'm gonna deal with it." >> reporter: but our journey with the children is far from over. when we come back, michelle back at school and about to go to the prom. could she do it?

what she does in that room without any of her friends even knowing, and what she reveals to me. you can't mess up the make-up. and bridget on that couch, once that beautiful little girl diving into the water, you're about to see the one trip we never thought we'd make. and tonight, right now, you can send a message to those children. many of them are watching. use #abc2020. we'll be right back. ♪fame, makes a man take things over♪ ♪fame, lets him loose, hard to swallow♪ ♪fame, puts you there where things are hollow♪ the evolution of luxury continues. the next generation 2015 escalade. ♪fame ♪

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we continue with more of "20/20." once again, david muir. >> reporter: bridget has now reached her final hurdle, her own father. last time, she couldn't even look at him. >> can you follow my hand over to your dad? good, good. stay focused on the hand. >> reporter: on this day, she

gets closer, much closer. touching dr. weg's hand. and he is touching her father. >> catch your breath, stay focused. go ahead. >> reporter: and then, bridget touches her father herself, the first time in six months. >> not good. >> it's hard. >> reporter: these are her last steps before bridget decides she can finally try to go home. the next session and bridget sits between her parents on the couch. she's about to move toward her father. >> hey, daddy. >> reporter: and finally, an embrace. >> hey, buddy. >> hey, daddy. >> reporter: this was undoubtedly her biggest breakthrough yet as she tries to get home. while for michelle, the biggest challenge is that trip away from home, that eighth grade prom, an overnight trip with some of those same students she once feared. >> hi. >> reporter: how is it going? getting ready for the prom? >> good, yep. >> reporter: so this is the fancy dress.

wow, that's pretty. >> yeah. >> reporter: she's proud of her dress, proud of being here. and her friends, they're proud of michelle. she has kept her ocd a secret until now. >> she told me that she had, like, a disease where she was kind of afraid of what might happen to her if she, like, came into contact with other people. >> reporter: but as her friends get ready in that room, they have no idea on the inside, michelle is still fighting that ocd. you don't do school activities. >> nope. so this is a big deal. you know, sleeping in a bed that's not mine, not being with family, you know? so, i mean, it's different. >> reporter: a lot of people might think, well, that's just being a little homesick, that everybody gets that. >> yeah. but i think for me, because i've been with family for just four

months straight, it's harder for me to let go. >> reporter: and you're feeling it already? do you feel badly because you've left them? >> i guess. but i know it's what my mom and my dad want me to do. >> reporter: so you're doing this in part for them. you can't mess up your make-up. as the girls assemble in the hallway, getting ready for the ballroom, michelle shares the anxiety that is creeping back. >> i mean, i'm so worried that ocd is going to pick on something. and then i'm going to have to obsess over it. >> reporter: she has already quietly tested the bed by sitting on it just to prove to herself that a bed where strangers have slept won't make her dirty, just like she tested that gym locker long before and that walk through the kohl's parking lot. but this time, she was testing herself without her mom, without her coach. you did it on your own as your friends were in the room. >> mm-hmm. >> reporter: do you think they even knew that you were trying --

>> no, probably not. >> reporter: her friends are waiting. that prom is about to start. and just outside, just out of sight, mom waits as well, just in case. >> i don't want anybody to see me because i don't want her to feel bad, but i need to be close enough that if she does have a panic attack or if she can't do it, that i can be able to be there. >> reporter: when we come back, we search for michelle out on the prom. what would we find out on that dance floor? while back at bridget's house, where she is finally home, we were not expecting what happened next. >> i don't want to go in. >> reporter: you're about to learn why she won't step into that room. and what her brother, watching it all, is about to reveal to all of us about their mother. ot. that's why i got my surface. it's great for watching game film and drawing up plays. it's got onenote, so i can stay on top of my to-do list,

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"20/20" continues. >> reporter: after spending nearly half a year living away from her own family, bridget is finally back, and so is that trademark smile she's so often flashed as a little girl. >> so now, i can touch my mother and my brother and my father, and i'm living back at home. so i guess it's pretty much full circle. >> reporter: sharing a meal with the same family that she was once so terrified of, terrified that they would contaminate her. she takes us to her room. >> so i do my school work on the floor here, just here. and then i sleep here. i can't actually use a blanket because i don't know who has used the blankets before. >> reporter: and bridget, every day, remembers dr. weg's words. >> you have to face your fears. it's flying into the darkness. >> reporter: but flying into the darkness still isn't as easy as it sounds. she takes us through the house to the doorway of the den where she stops. she tells us she can't go in. do you feel like it's creeping back a little bit? >> yeah, absolutely. because i'm very good at avoiding things and making it look like that i'm not avoiding it.

that's how my mom doesn't know it. and i don't even think she noticed that i haven't been in the den. so i'm very sly at that. but, it's -- >> reporter: mom, did you notice? >> oh, i noticed. it would be, you know, "bridge, come sit in the den," so she would come sit in the den for, you know, maybe five minutes, and that would be it. >> reporter: now, bridget admits she can't make herself go into the den at all. it is a major step backwards. do you sense pressure from other parents who might say, "why don't you just make her go in there?" >> because i've tried that and she just breaks down completely when she's not ready. and that's a horrible thing to see someone, you know, go through. >> reporter: we notice her brother sitting in the den. he knows his sister is still tormented by fear. i'm curious what goes through your mind as you're watching your sibling struggle through this. >> we know that this isn't her fault, you know? i think that there's probably a point when she thought that we were blaming her for this. and that's definitely not the case. >> reporter: he told us he's

proud of his sister, and then he revealed something about his mother. how proud of his mother he is, too. do you feel sorry for your mom at all, given what she's been through? >> oh, well, i always knew, like, if anyone ever asked me, i would say that my mom is the nicest person in the world, and i'd, you know, stake my life on that. and it's definitely a difficult process for her and i think she's a great woman and i'm good -- i'm glad she's my mom. >> that's very nice. >> becker, come here. >> reporter: the whole family taking it one day at a time, all for bridget. while for michelle, that time has arrived, that prom she so feared. we snake our way through all of those kids looking for the 14-year-old who once couldn't get out of her own house, the teenager who couldn't step inside her own school. now after all of that, on the other side of the dance floor, we found this. michelle, dancing with her friends.

and just outside, her mother, out of sight, wondering if her daughter is out of the woods. >> how is she doing? >> reporter: she's tearing up the dance floor. >> no, really? >> reporter: she's on the dance floor. >> oh, that's a big thing for her. >> reporter: big smile. >> oh, mom's proud. >> rorter: are you proud? >> really proud. >> reporter: and another moment we thought unimaginable when this journey began. bridget getting into the front seat of the car with her mother, something she couldn't do just a few months ago. and where were they going? to the pool bridget has so missed, the water she so loved as a little girl. we are about to try it again. are you ready? >> i'm ready. >> reporter: bridget told us it is hard to believe she's here. what are you gonna show me, the butterfly? >> i'll show you some butterfly. yep. >> reporter: show me how it's done. >> yeah. >> reporter: we were there the day you told dr. weg -- >> mm-hmm. >> reporter: -- that you were going through this therapy so that you could swim again. >> yes. >> reporter: and we're here. >> yes, we are. >> reporter: should i time you? >> no.

>> reporter: that wouldn't be fair. we watched, and she was off. bridget back in the pool. and that butterfly has come back to life. and for the mother who never gave up? >> i can't put it into words. it's just such a good feeling. >> reporter: you've come a long way. >> yes, i have. >> reporter: but we all knew that day that this was just the first lap. we promised we would stick by them for the journey, and tonight, five years after we all first met, where is bridget now? where is michelle who made it to that prom? and where is rocco, so worried to leave his house? we go back for one more visit. and you're about to see a holiday weekend reunion we will never forget.

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norm used his bankamericard cash rewards credit card to enter the bbq masters invitational. where he smoked 40 pounds of ribs and the competition. that's the satisfaction of rewarding connections. apply online or at a bank of america near you. >> reporter: this whole journey began five years ago with children consumed with fear, 9 million of them who suffer from anxiety. rocco -- who couldn't leave the house at 8, who we got to the merry-go-round at 12. it wasn't easy, but we got him there. and just days ago, years after this journey began, we went back to that same carousel in new york's central park. hey, rocco. >> david, how you been? >> reporter: you're all grown up. good to see you. >> you, too. it's like we were here yesterday, right? >> reporter: he got me a ticket this time. all right, let's do it. we remembered the last time i took a ride with rocco, still a boy filled with angst. we got his mind off it, talking little league. >> 17-1-1. >> reporter: 17-1-1.

five years later, we are talking about triumph. and what do you hope to be one day? >> i want to become a psychologist and help kids like i was, you know? >> reporter: you're gonna help that little guy? >> help that little rocco-type guy, yeah, you know. i could speak from experience. >> reporter: rocco, once so afraid of that school bus. now driving on his own. so, the school bus used to psych you out, but now you can drive in new york city? >> yeah. >> reporter: that's a huge hurdle. you've got that prom next week? >> this friday, coming up. >> reporter: and the camera rolling as rocco put on his tux, his bow tie. there he is, with his date. and bridget, who we once got back into the water? tonight, she's back home for this memorial day weekend, having finished sophomore year at johns hopkins university studying molecular biology. >> hi, david. just came back from school. it's nice to be home and actually be comfortable. that's not to say the ocd is completely gone, but it's

definitely a lot more manageable. i'm no longer that scared little girl you came and interviewed five years ago. >> reporter: there was liz, who would punch holes in the wall, so consumed with washing her hands. look at her now. newly married, walking across the graduation stage, ready to help the next generation of children like her. >> david, i did it! i got my phd! >> reporter: and michelle, who made it to that prom? we were there when she returned to that department store she'd been so afraid of. >> am i going first? >> i'll go first. see, i told you it wouldn't be that hard. wow, they changed it. let's go shopping, mom. >> reporter: tonight, she is now planning on going to college, too. all these young people, proof you can conquer your fear. but each will tell you it is a constant journey.

and we thank them for taking us along on their ride. thanks, rocco. that was a nice time. >> thanks. >> reporter: you're a better driver than me. ♪ >> each of those children and their parents, so brave. >> that was really something. and behind every one of those success stories is another family looking for help. if you have a question about

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