I DARE YOU TO STOP OBEYING YOUR OCD.
A free 7-day challenge for people who are tired of letting OCD call the shots.
One email. One dare. On day at a time.
You know the drill that OCD puts you through.
“What if?”
“Are you sure?”
“But what if I made the wrong decision?”
“Maybe I should check one more time.”
So you check. You Google. You ask for reassurance. You replay the conversation. You analyze how you feel. You avoid the thing that makes you anxious. You try to get just a little more certain.
And for a moment, you feel better.
Until OCD comes back with another question.
What if you stopped answering?
For seven days, I'm daring you to do something different.
Not to eliminate your intrusive thoughts.
Not to make yourself feel calm.
Not to convince yourself that everything will be okay.
To stop obeying OCD.
WELCOME TO THE OCD DARE CHALLENGE!
For 7 days, I'll send you one small, practical, evidence-based challenge each day to help you practice responding to OCD differently.
You don't need to be good at ERP.
You don't need to know exactly what your OCD subtype is.
And you definitely don't need to feel ready.
You just need to be willing to stop letting OCD make every decision for you.
Every day, you'll get:
TODAY'S OCD MOVE
We'll identify what OCD is trying to get you to do.
YOUR DARE
One concrete challenge to practice resisting the OCD cycle.
WHEN OCD FIGHTS BACK
Because it probably will. I'll help you recognize what happens when you stop giving OCD what it wants.
YOUR RESPONSE
A simple, evidence-based way to respond without getting pulled into another OCD debate.
GO LIVE
Because the goal isn't to spend all day thinking about OCD. The goal is to get back to your life.
THIS ISN'T ABOUT FEELING BETTER.
This is important.
You may do the dare and feel anxious.
You may do the dare and still have the intrusive thought.
You may do the dare and still feel uncertain.
You may even do the dare and immediately think:
“WAIT. DID I DO THAT RIGHT?”
That's OCD trying to turn ERP into another thing you have to get right.
We're not playing that game.
The goal is to practice something much more important:
I can have uncertainty, discomfort, and intrusive thoughts AND still choose what I do next.
WHAT WILL YOU BE DARING YOURSELF TO DO?
You'll practice things like:
Leaving a question unanswered.
Resisting reassurance.
Not Googling/Checking
Not mentally reviewing.
Doing something OCD tells you to avoid.
Making a decision without 100% certainty.
Allowing uncomfortable thoughts and feelings to be there without trying to neutralize them.
Getting back to something meaningful instead of waiting for OCD to give you permission.
These are small practices, but they are powerful.
Because every time you resist the urge to obey OCD, you're practicing a different way of responding.
YOU DON'T HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL OCD GOES AWAY TO LIVE YOUR LIFE.
What if you went on the trip while anxious?
Had the conversation without rehearsing it 17 times?
Made the decision without knowing for sure?
Let someone misunderstand you without explaining yourself?
Went to bed without checking one more time?
Let the thought be there without figuring out what it means?
What if you did your life anyway?
That's the dare :)
READY TO TAKE THE DARE?
Stop waiting for OCD to give you permission to live.
Enter your email below and you’ll be on the list. We start 9/1.
By signing up, you'll receive the 7-day OCD Dare emails and occasional related emails from me. You can unsubscribe at any time.
A NOTE FROM ME
I'm a licensed clinical psychologist specializing in OCD and evidence-based treatment, including exposure and response prevention (ERP).
I created this challenge because understanding OCD isn't always enough.
You can know exactly what your OCD is doing and still find yourself checking, reassuring, avoiding, analyzing, and trying desperately to get certainty.
Knowing what to do and actually doing something different are two very different things.
This challenge is designed to help you start practicing that difference.
IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ
The OCD Dare is psychoeducational and is not psychotherapy or individualized mental health treatment.
Signing up for this challenge does not establish a therapist-client relationship between you and me. I am not your therapist, and I will not be providing individualized assessment, diagnosis, treatment, crisis intervention, or clinical advice through the challenge or by email.
The challenge is intended to provide general education and structured exercises that may support someone who is already pursuing treatment for OCD or help someone learn more about evidence-based approaches to responding to OCD.
The exercises are based on principles of evidence-based OCD treatment, including exposure and response prevention (ERP). However, not every exercise is appropriate for every person, and the challenge cannot be personalized to your individual symptoms, history, circumstances, or treatment needs.
If you are currently working with an OCD therapist, I encourage you to discuss the challenge and any exposures you are considering with your therapist. This challenge is intended to complement appropriate treatment, not replace it.
If you are experiencing a mental health emergency or believe you may be at risk of harming yourself or someone else, this challenge is not an appropriate substitute for immediate professional or emergency support.