MomentO

An app that distracts OCD patients from their compulsions by bringing in distractive yet friendly stories, jokes, facts and tasks from friends, psychiatrists, therapists, strangers or a chatbot.

On average, over 2% of the global population suffers from obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) at some point in their life. As a percentage, that might seem too low, but that’s more than 140 million people. In India, over 1 million people report to suffer from this disorder each year. However, the actual number might be much higher than that owing to the lack of awareness and stigma around this neurological disorder. The effects of OCD are no secret for those who try to seek answers. But a large proportion of the population isn’t sufficiently informed about this disorder and the type of care that is necessary to tackle it. 

In my country, India, OCD is still considered a taboo in many communities that often encourage superstitious rituals to ‘cure’ OCD (no pun intended) over psychiatric help. Such practices that root from lack of information, or misinformation, often shield patients from receiving necessary psychiatric intervention timely. Consequently, many suffers turn to drug abuse and even suicide to break free of this disorder. 

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. A bigger hurdle lies in the process of recovery. As I suffer myself, I can ascertain that. Medicines help, but no patient can stay dependent on them for their entire life without risking their physical health. The symptoms wax and wane depending on the dosage of the SSRIs and other medications prescribed. While I’m yet to figure out if OCD is actually curable, I have figured out that it takes more than just medicines to pull yourself out of this hellhole. It requires a combination of psychiatric treatment, self control, distraction and communal support.

My solution intends to assist sufferers in their journey to recovery as well as get more people informed about this debilitating disorder that supposedly haunts people for their entire life. My solution is primarily intended towards the Indian population but has scope of being globally scaled with necessary support.

My solution is an app, called moment-Ocd (or momento). The app initially lets sufferers track their compulsive rituals and their peak hours. After gathering data for two weeks, it presents users with the option of receiving stories, facts or tasks being said out loud to distract patients from performing the compulsions during the peak hours. Users have the option to receive advice, stories or tasks from their immediate friends, health professionals, strangers or a chatbot (in-case a human is unavailable). Each advice or story sent by a volunteer is screened by smart programs to detect any inappropriate, racial, or offensive content. Only the content passed as clean (again, no pun intended) are shown to the sufferers. All users maintain a streak by successfully dodging the compulsion.

Other users who are not OCD patients can assist as volunteers or moderators. A patient can invite their friends and family to the app and send informational slides made by us to make them more aware of this disorder and its treatment.

Not all users require a verification from their health provider to use the app, except those who want to enter the ‘community’. The ‘community’ is an exclusive space that we provide for other sufferers to share their stories, tasks, and streak. To avoid the general public from accessing this private community, a verification is necessary.

My solution intends to support OCD patients who find it challenging to control their compulsions despite medical intervention. The obvious answer to this is therapy but that’s not affordable for a huge chunk of the Indian population. While there’s an option to enter low-cost, online or group therapy programs, the quality isn’t often up to par with guided individual therapy. Our app will allow users to use the platform for free and would present personalized suggestions based on the data collected from the patient. 

Furthermore, as we would let users invite their friend or healthcare provider to the app, it'll help us increase awareness about OCD. This, in-turn, will enable and encourage more sufferers to seek medical help, ultimately bringing down the stigma.

Currently, my team consists of me alone. My academic background and interest lie in chemistry, biology and computer science. I also show affinity towards business development and social activism, which keeps my project open to collaborations. I have been suffering from OCD for the past 4 years and only started seeking treatment about 6 months ago. But before I acknowledged the presence of this disorder, I was a victim of the stigma that kept me from seeking help sooner. From my numerous trips to the psychiatrist, it is very clear to me that the social stigma is still as prevalent as it was a few years ago. I want to use my knowledge and experience to break down these barriers that keep people from living a fulfilling life.

I have done research about the factors that make recovery difficult for OCD patients. After verifying from a psychiatrist, I concluded that a substantial factor is the social stigma and lack of awareness. Secondly, lack of access to psychiatric care is also a hindrance to the recovery of the sufferers. My solution would tackle exactly that.

Memento differs from other mental health support, or OCD tracking apps, as it focuses on building a community of people who can actively record their progress and stay connected with others in the same journey as them. This would help sufferers stay confident about their recovery and provide them with a sense of support.

Once the app goes live, I wish to break down the stigma around OCD. It’s inspired by the way period tracking apps are breaking down the taboo around menstruation. As people would start using the app, I would like to include motivational success stories in the app. Furthermore as we'll receive sufficient funding, I would like to build partnership with brands, social media influencers and the government to promote our initiative.

AI is the primary technology that we're utilizing to create the chatbot on our app because we initially don't expect to have many users on our platform but want every user to get a fulfilling experience. 

Currently, the product hasn't been launched but we aim to reach at least 10000 people by the end of 2023

The most significant barriers will be access to mobile phones, internet and the language of communication. If we're successful at collaborating with the government, we can focus more on increasing people's accessibility to the internet. For language inclusion, as the team would grow, we would change the interface to different languages as per the user's choice. Initially, the app would be in Hindi as it aims to help people from India. Later it'll also be available in English and other languages.

Currently, we haven't partnered with any organizations

Our business model is designed to target patients from all economical and social backgrounds of India. The analysis of our user's geographical location will be handled smoothly with console data. Our priority will be to increase active users on the platform, as both volunteers and patients. We would try build partnerships with different apps and organizations that can contribute to our project and provide it with adequate financial support. Our primary mode of advertisement would be social media and we would focus more on digital marketing when starting out. 

After we launch the app, we'll seek funding through investors and build partnerships with the government to bring sponsors.