3 vital reasons why i use hypnosis for treating ocd - and why you should too
TRANSCRIPT
3 Vital Reasons Why I Use Hypnosis For Treating OCD – And
Why You Should Too
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is a thief.
It steals your life.
OCD can express differently in different people,
but the underlying mechanism is the same.
Obsessive thoughts lead to obsessive actions
such as turning taps on and off, or hand
washing, or cleaning, or anything.
Here are 3 reasons why I use hypnosis to treat Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (and why you
should too)
1. OCD is hypnosis
Every single one of the hundreds of OCD
sufferers I’ve treated over two decades have
described how, when they are obsessing or
acting compulsively, they feel like they ‘space
out’.
During any hypnotic state there’s a narrowing
down of your focus of attention at a given
trigger, a feeling of ‘time disappearing’ during
hours of (for example) hand washing. You
become inwardly absorbed as the imagination
becomes more ‘real’ than external reality.
OCD isn’t really a ‘thought disorder’. It’s a
‘feeling disorder’ – even an ‘imagination
disorder’.
So it makes sense to treat a ‘hypnotic condition’
with hypnosis.
2. Hypnosis communicates with the ‘problem part’ of the mind
You might have heard the parable of the man
looking for something in the street at night...
“What are you looking for?” asks his neighbour.
“I’ve lost my key,” says the man.
“Where did you lose it?”
“In my house.”
“Then why are you looking for it out here in the
street?”
“Because there’s more light to see by under
this street lamp!”
Trying to work at the conscious level with
someone when the problem really resides in,
and is maintained, by, their subconscious mind
is like the man looking for his key in the wrong
place just because there seems to be ‘more
light’ in that place.
3. Hypnosis is a great way to extract the fear from OCD
“Sheila, how would you feel if someone
physically prevented you from compulsively
checking water taps?”
“I’d be terrified. Even thinking about that makes
me feel anxious!”
But what if it didn’t?
What if Sheila could become totally relaxed
with the thought of – and the reality of – not
checking?
The power would be taken away from the OCD
right there. OCD is fuelled by fear.
In treatment of OCD it’s both intelligent and
practical to focus on taking the fear out of not
carrying out some compulsive behaviour.
We can use the hypnotic Rewind Technique
to decondition the anxiety around not carrying
out OCD rituals.
When we do this OCD can evaporate
amazingly fast.
There are many other reasons why hypnosis is
great for treating OCD, but these are the three
that I think really count.
View the full article on the blog, and download as an mp3
Or click here to sign up for free weekly therapy tips by email