Hypnotherapy for Obsessions and Compulsions

The anxiety related problems that can be treated with hypnotherapy include obsessions and compulsions or OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder). Obsessions are not the same as compulsions and the two are often confused...

What's the difference?

Let's look at an example...A person can have a compulsion to tidy their home. They do this and feel an immediate sense of satisfaction for doing so. When the task is complete, the thought process 'I must tidy my house' disappears...and the person feels much better, turning a negative situation (untidy house) into a positive, satisfying one (tidy house).

With an obsession however, the sufferer broods and ruminates about the task (or thought). The thoughts come more and more often, until the person becomes preoccupied with them. The obsessive act (or thought) is usually about the deferment of punishment. The difficulty is, that unlike the compulsive, the obsessive feels no reward at all for performing his task (or thought): he/she feels no relief, no satisfaction, nothing at all. So, minutes (or hours) later, the brooding and ruminating returns.

With a compulsion, the sufferer feels an immediate benefit, with an obsession, there is no benefit (apart from having deferred their worries for a few minutes).

Obsessions, obsessive thoughts and 'OCD'
The word 'obsession' comes from the Latin word obsidere, meaning 'to besiege'. Obsessions are recurrent thoughts, beliefs or ideas that dominate a person's mind. They affect both men and women from all ages and often occur in people that are already something of a perfectionist or who are anxious to get everything to be just right.People suffering from OCD often feel that they have no control over intrusive thoughts which just seem to 'force' themselves into their mind. According to one study, the four most common obsessive characteristics are;

repetitive negative thoughts (e.g. jealousy),
concern of losing control (e.g. hurting someone),
contamination (being contaminated by germs) and
checking behaviours (such as doors or windows).

There is often the dominating thought that if the task (e.g. counting / checking things) isn't carried out...then something 'bad' or unpleasant is going to happen. Obsessives find it incredibly difficult to let go of things or stop worrying / brooding and their worries may transfer from one thing to the next rapidly.As far as a professional hypnotherapist is concerned OCD is really an obsessive neurosis, just another nervous disorder that can be treated very successfully.People with very strong obsessive traits also tend to be fairly negative in their thinking and often respond in the first instance to situations in a very negative or catastrophic way. All of these feelings and anxieties can be helped.

Compulsions and reckless or compulsive behaviours
With compulsive behaviour the person does feel some reward...they get some satisfaction and 'escape from life' for a while.The more stress (and anxiety) the person feels, the stronger their compulsions, and the more they will carry out their compulsive behaviour, often resulting in feelings of guilt ('I shouldn't have done that, I'll stop tomorrow').