The 12 Traditions of OSPA

Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends on OSPA unity.

For our group purpose, there is but one ultimate authority—a loving Higher Power as may be expressed through our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern.

The only requirement for OSPA membership is a desire to stop skin picking.

Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or OSPA as a whole.

Each group has but one primary purpose—to carry its message to the skin picker who still suffers.

An OSPA group or OSPA as a whole ought never endorse, finance, or lend the OSPA name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property, and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.

Every OSPA group ought to be self-supporting, declining outside contributions.

Obsessive Skin Pickers Anonymous should remain forever nonprofessional, but our service centers may employ special workers.

OSPA, as such, ought never be organized, but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve.

Obsessive Skin Pickers Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence, the OSPA name ought never be drawn into public controversy.

Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, and films.

Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.