Founder Story

Looking back at my childhood, even as early as 5 years old, it is very evident now that I’ve always had OCD. I would pray obsessively for my family’s safety, fear the death of loved ones, need everything to be just right, and be afraid of even the slightest perceived failure. I always had this strong sense of right and wrong and thought in black and white. That’s why it would cause me so much distress when I could not control the so-called “wrong” thoughts in my own head.  

I never spoke about this to anyone, carried a lot of shame and guilt, and believed that having these thoughts meant something terrible about who I was.

When I was 9 years old, I lost my older brother. When I was 12, I lost my father. I was completely shattered and didn’t know how to cope with life. 

When I finally decided to get help, the professionals at the time assumed that my thoughts were a response to trauma and grief. But that was not entirely true, they had always been there and were swept under the rug. I was misdiagnosed thrice over the years, with anxiety and depression, which did not feel right. I even took medication for the same. Because of the misdiagnosis, I received the wrong treatment, and did not get better. 

It was only years later, when I went to the US to study psychology, I realized this was OCD! I then sought the correct help, received a clinical diagnosis, and began Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) therapy for OCD, and EMDR(Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) for trauma. For the first time, I started regaining my life. 

When I returned to India, I wanted to continue therapy and seek the right help. What I found instead was a fragmented and confusing mental health system. Finding clear and correct information on OCD was difficult, and finding a clinician with relevant experience treating OCD was even harder. It broke my heart to think of the millions in our country who struggle and suffer in silence, shame, and guilt, not knowing what is going on with them, and not knowing how to get help. 

I wished there was some place to go for clear, accurate, and evidence-based help. So I decided to do something about it. I began sketching out the prototype of an app that had all the tools and resources I wish I had to break out of OCD’s grip. The idea of breakOCD was born. I wanted to build something that focused on correct awareness of OCD, helpful tools to support people daily, and easy access to OCD specialists in India. 

I spent months refining the idea, researching evidence-based tools, integrating lived experience, meeting with the best clinicians, validating the concepts, and bringing them to life. I envision breakOCD as the bridge between suffering and getting the correct help for OCD in India.