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Maia Kinney-Petrucha

@maiamfkp

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I like long naps on the beach. Or anywhere.
🧠MS in Cognitive Neuroscience
🫀OCD & Mental Health Advocate
📝 Writer

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On Intrusive Thoughts:

They're scary and obnoxious, so why do they happen at all? And why are people suddenly describing any random impulse as an "intrusive thought"? And why do people get them even if they don't have OCD? And why do the worst ones always stay the longest??

There is some slight evolutionary advantage to intrusive thoughts (whoa, what? Gross!?). They happen more when we're anxious, a state in which we are faced with uncertainty. In such state, our brains are looking at all possibilities--including the ridiculous outcomes that would never happen. “I’m holding this baby…so dropping it on purpose is a thing that could potentially happen.” But we don’t usually latch onto the non-scary thoughts we may have had during that period of possibility-seeking. “I’m holding this baby…so giving it a widdle forehead kiss is a thing that could potentially happen.” 👶

We have an incredibly evolved imagination and somewhat of a negativity bias when it comes to our false sense of seeing into the future. You can be mad at your intrusive thoughts, but please don't be mad at yourself for having them!

#intrusivethoughts #thoughts
#mentalhealth #health #brain #mind #anxiety #myth #stigma #ocd #anxious #evolution #imagination by @maiamfkp

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4 years ago

I was recently interviewed by Business Insider about my experience living with, studying, and talking ad nauseum about OCD.

The offer came at a time when I’d been stepping away from making videos about OCD, which I’d started in 2020. I was exhausted after years of airing my dirty laundry (sometimes literally), overthinking the hell out of how I was presenting my overthinking disorder, and feeling like I wasn’t “authorized” enough to be speaking about such a nuanced, individualistic diagnosis. In fact, the more I learned about OCD, the less I wanted to talk about it because I realized how variant it is. Each deeper peel of the onion was a gamble as to whether I’d be misunderstood.

This video was an opportunity to take stock of how far I’ve come in my personal journey. It was a hard watch/film because sharing these pieces of myself sometimes feels selfish--but my story is my offering, my building block for community and, I hope, hope.

Special shoutouts to @holubackgrrl for always encouraging me to talk about the nitty gritty and being a huge inspiration and @kristen_costello for doing my hair that morning.

Here are some BTS shots + screenshot of me looking like the four seasons Orlando baby ☝️+ clip about the future

Link to full vid in da bio 🔗🎬

#ocd #interview #ocdawareness #ocdjourney by @maiamfkp

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9 months ago

31 going on 13 🎂

Moments from such a good bday; cups of water that shine in black & white, fall colors, party fowls, Willy's Weiners, sunlight squinting, and the most fabulous friends 🧡 Thanks to everyone for the wishes and celebrations!

📷 [1-4] @calchurchillnyc by @maiamfkp

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8 days ago

I 💛 picture books and picture book people!

I'm just so into the concept that picture books are a universal storytelling medium - the art of illustration, the theater of reading aloud, the language of each page whether there are words or not - it uses so many parts of our beautiful brains! If you haven't indulged in a picture book lately, with or without a kiddo, I highly recommend.

Another Carle Honors in the [picture] books 📚 by @maiamfkp

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13 days ago

🎵 You'll take the high road and I'll also take the high road and we'll be in Scotland probably at the saaaame timeee 🎵 taken in Edinburgh, Scotland by @maiamfkp

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2 months ago

Glimpses of sprummer 💃 by @maiamfkp

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4 months ago

B Cing U Hampy 💛 - When Hampshire College announced their plans to close, I didn’t expect the loss to feel so staggering. I’ve never been big on school spirit, (which was actually very on theme for Hampshire), but OOF do I have so much gratitude for this community.

Because of Hampshire, I shaped a career as a researcher and storyteller, pulling my love of theater, writing, and cognitive neuroscience into just about every job I’ve had since graduating. It didn’t “make me who I am today”, rather it invited me to celebrate and discover who I am–which I think is a rare thing for a school.

Div III is the Hampshire equivalent of a senior thesis, but more accurately it's the opportunity to weave everything you love and have learned into a tangible output–this final project birthed businesses like Black Sheep Cafe and Seventh Generation, films that set the trajectory for Ken Burns, apps and buildings and cars and songs and plays, to name but a few.

My Div, “I Feel That: Theatrical Performance as an Empathetic Playground” involved co-creating a documentary theater piece and writing a research paper on the neural substrates associated with empathy and why theater is ideal for enhancing empathy.

I rave pretty readily about the education I got there, but the people are harder to describe. The words that come to mind–passionate, brilliant, innovative, and tenacious–really don’t begin to cover it. I owe many lifelong friendships to Hamp, but also an eye and fondness for people that evoke a “Hampshire” vibe.

The astounding impacts that Hampshire people have on the world will last long after the final graduating class. I still get giddy when I think about our motto, “Non Satis Scire/To Know is Not Enough” because fuck yeah we should all be lifelong experimenters.

Anyway, ding dong the bell of Hampshire will always ring in my heart, but in a way we will never be Div Free. by @maiamfkp

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6 months ago

Winter mood board ⬇️

1️⃣ Dress with pockets large enough for an ibuprofen bottle that rattles in the wind

2️⃣ Skiing up a mountain, defying gravity

3️⃣ Sunrise in sleeping bags

4️⃣ RIP Robert Duvall, seen here teaching tennis to my aunt (not very Boo Radley of him)

5️⃣ Ranking historic houses and making historic friendships

6️⃣ Spy Kids 3D

7️⃣ Bet you cannot guess what we are singing (photo cred @calchurchillnyc)

8️⃣ "no" 🤌 by @maiamfkp

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7 months ago

Lotus eating with shrimply some of the best pals and sea life 🦎🐬

@nikiacamp finally convinced me to go on her cruise, so I spent the last week cosplaying a sybarite (a word I learned exclusively for this trip//someone who indulges in luxury). Wild experience, but laughed hard and played hard. by @maiamfkp

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9 months ago

2025 was all about the PEEPS 🐤

I instantly ran out of tags and photo dumping energy, but all you people in my year were so deeply special to me. ❤️ It was a ride on the struggle bus kind of year, but I was constantly uplifted by my community and for that I say YAY and THANK YOU and AHHH 2026

#peeps #2025 by @maiamfkp

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9 months ago

I love sitting. Sitting is amazing. I did a lot of it this year in some special places with special people. Here are some highlights from my 2025 camera roll that come up when I type "sitting".

Wishing everyone some good sits this season 🙏❤️ by @maiamfkp

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10 months ago

I was holding space this Halloween 🙏🌌 (and a bowl of mush)

#holdingspace #halloween #mush #fallfashion by @maiamfkp

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a year ago