The educational hub empowers OCD sufferers with understanding and information to live a healthier and happier life
Today, a creative marketing entrepreneur breaks his silence on mental health to launch IntrusiveThoughts.org, a website that humanizes the experience of living with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). With curated videos, information and personal stories that showcase different perspectives on healthy living, therapy and medication, IntrusiveThoughts.org helps place OCD sufferers on a proper path to treatment. The site, which was developed by the founder of a successful New York City digital agency who has suffered in silence with mental health disorders for over 20 years, is an invaluable resource for the OCD community.
Despite what many may believe, OCD is defined by more than organizational skills, repetitive behaviors and tics. The darker side to OCD is characterized by extremely violent thoughts. For someone struggling with OCD, these obsessive compulsions, which can range from pedophilia to homicide to sexual identity crises to incest, make you question reality on a daily basis. Because of the nature of these unwanted thoughts and misconceptions about mental health, most sufferers internalize their condition for the majority of their lives.
“Two years ago, the pressure of my anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts became unbearable,” said Aaron Harvey, Founder of Intrusive Thoughts, Inc. “For more than twenty years, I tried to suppress terrible mental images about hurting myself and the people I love. When I couldn’t live in silence any longer, I finally confided in the Internet to help understand these intrusive thoughts. I had to dig through never ending lists of symptoms, treatments and academic research on psych forums and YouTube for any useful information. I didn’t feel any relief until I came upon Rose Bretécher’s article, ‘Pure OCD: a rude awakening.’ She used humor to shed light on the darkness of living with pure OCD and because of that, she forever changed, if not saved, my life. This article and the lack of empathetic OCD resources online helped me realize there was a clear opportunity to use my professional skills to create a resource with a youthful look and tone of voice that also humanized the experience of living with intrusive thoughts, promoted a holistic treatment plan and elevated conversations about mental health in the media.”
Using his professional design skills, the modern website was created to be more relatable for young people than the academic and prescriptive resources currently available online, but more dependable than confiding in Google searches for answers to mental health issues. Featuring videos and information from doctors, therapists and experts in meditation, yoga, diet, art and the medical field, IntrusiveThoughts.org will also explain how healthy choices can help sufferers and their families cope with the chronic condition of OCD.
“The condition of OCD continues to be largely misunderstood and misrepresented by the media, the general public and sufferers alike,” said Dr. Steven Phillipson, a licensed clinical psychologist who has specialized in the Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment (CBT) of OCD since 1986. “Unfortunately, a great deal of variability, regarding expert opinion, exists with this seemingly incomprehensible condition as well. IntrusiveThoughts.org offers a tremendous amount of empirically-based and well-researched information for the OCD community. Aaron is deeply invested in others not taking a wasteful and circuitous path toward effective treatment options. With input from various experts in the field, integrating influences and perspectives from psychology, psychiatry and nutrition, IntrusiveThoughts.org is a comprehensive resource that will undoubtedly help thousands of others navigate a more efficient path toward valuable insights and recovery.”
The IntrusiveThoughts.org project is currently self-funded by Aaron Harvey. In order to take the learnings of this project further and to develop a more comprehensive resource for mental health sufferers and their loved ones, Aaron has created the following campaign for donations: https://www.gofundme.com/myocdstory
For more information about Intrusive Thoughts, Inc., visit IntrusiveThoughts.org
About Intrusive Thoughts, Inc.
Intrusive Thoughts, Inc. is a Non-Profit Corporation dedicated to humanizing the experience of living with a mental health disorder. In March 2016, Intrusive Thoughts, Inc. launched IntrusiveThoughts.org, an educational hub that uses modern design, relatable language, personal stories and video perspectives from a variety of professional and non-professional sources to help OCD sufferers seek the proper path to treatment through healthy living, therapy and medication. For more information about Intrusive Thoughts, Inc., visit www.InstrusiveThoughts.org.