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End OCD Stigma: @APenny4YourIntrusiveThoughts

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*UPDATE* Thanks to all of YOU we were able to raise enough money to renew our website for another year. We raised our goal in hopes of being up to renew our website next year as well. We cannot thank you enough for the support!

We created A Penny For Your Intrusive Thoughts as a way for people with OCD to anonymously share their isolating intrusive thoughts* in order to help others know they are not alone.  After almost three years we have reached thousands of people with OCD, spread awareness and promoted resources about OCD and intrusive thoughts, and connected with therapists to help them start the conversation about taboo intrusive thoughts. We are so grateful for your support thus far.

We primarily need funding to maintain our website so we can easily spread awareness about OCD and intrusive thoughts. In addition, we are in the process of some exciting new projects! All money donated will be used to directly support our mission.

You can learn more about our project at https://www.apennyforyourintrusivethoughts.org/  or on our Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter (links on our website).

Thank you SO much for your support! :)
- Cassie and Darcy

*Wondering what intrusive thoughts are?

Everyone has occasional unwanted intrusive thoughts of a taboo nature — perhaps a random thought of what their boss might look like naked (eek!) or a fleeting fear when holding a kitchen knife they could stab someone with it (yikes!). Intrusive thoughts can span a wide array of themes such as religion, sex, violence, morality, etc. Most people can shrug these thoughts off as just weird thoughts that do not mean anything. However, the minds of people with OCD can get stuck on them. Hounded by these thoughts, people with OCD worry that since the thoughts won’t go away, they must represent their true feelings, even though they do not. In spite or their worries, people with OCD are actually the least likely to act on such thoughts.

Due to the taboo nature of their thoughts, people with these types of OCD are often hesitant to seek help because they are embarrassed, ashamed, or incorrectly fear that they might actually act on them. This shame—plus a lack of well-trained treatment providers, poor mental health insurance coverage, and a lack of awareness about real OCD—hold people back from a correct diagnosis and from proper treatment for their OCD, often leaving them to suffer alone for years without an accurate diagnosis, and even longer before finding proper care by a trained OCD specialist.  

Additional information on OCD and intrusive thoughts:
https://iocdf.org 
https://peaceofmind.com 
https://www.intrusivethoughts.org 
https://www.ocduk.org/ocd/types/

Organizer

Darcy Howell
Organizer
Sudbury, MA

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