Lena Dunham has shared a chapter from her long-awaited memoir Not That Kind Of Girl with The New Yorker.

Titled ‘Difficult Girl: Growing up, with help’, the excerpt tells the story of eight-year-old Lena and her irrational fear of… well, everything.

“The list of things that keep me up at night includes but is not limited to: appendicitis, typhoid, leprosy, unclean meat, foods I haven’t seen emerge from their packaging, foods my mother hasn’t tasted first so that if we die we die together, homeless people, headaches, rape, kidnapping, milk, the subway, sleep,” writes Lena. When we were eight we didn’t know what half these things were, so needless to say we’re sensing Dunham was a special kind of kid.

Other highlights from the chapter include:

“One night, my father becomes so frustrated by my behavior that he takes a walk and doesn’t come back for three hours. While he’s gone, I start to plan our life without him.”

“My fourth-grade teacher, Kathy, is my best friend at school. She’s a plump, pretty woman with hair like yellow pipe cleaners.”

“When I’m not with Kathy, I’m with Chris Conta, our school nurse, who has a perm and wears holiday sweaters all year round.”

“Over time, Lisa and I develop a shorthand for things I’m too embarrassed to say: ‘masturbation’ becomes ‘M,’ ‘sexuality’ becomes ‘ooality,’ and my crushes become ‘him.’”

“’Huge news!’ I tell everyone who will listen. ‘My therapist has a husband. And he might be French.’”

Essentially, Lena suffered from extreme OCD and was in therapy for most of her childhood and teenage life, yet the way she tells the story is still oddly hilariousand probably the basis for many a Girls storyline.

Read the full chapter on The New Yorkernow and start counting down to Not That Kind of Girl’s release on October 7th.