HYPNOTHERAPY FOR OCD

People who suffer from OCD often think they are unique and cannot be cured.

If you are obsessive, you are plagued by persistent, involuntary, uncontrollable, all consuming, negative thoughts: self-doubt, ambivalence, indecision and impulses. Most people experience repetitive, unproductive thoughts from time to time but not to the insanity producing extreme that distinguishes OCD.

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“Did I unplug the iron after I finished with that shirt?” is not an uncommon thought you may have when you are driving away from the house.

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As an OCD sufferer, you have to turn around and head home to check because that’s the only way to feel relief, and maybe on the way home you'll need to do your “checks” that will let you know whether the house will be in flames when you get there. Checks such as “how many red cars have I seen in the last 10 minutes?” there are good numbers and bad (harmful) numbers for OCD sufferers. If you have OCD, such activities consume at least an hour a day, they are very distressing and interfere with daily life. Worries become persistent, exaggerated, highly distressing and impossible to resist.

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Compulsions are repetitive, unproductive behaviours (as opposed to thoughts) that you engage in ritualistically if you have OCD, and whenever you attempt to stop whatever ritual you engage in, it results in intense anxiety and even panic. Tension and anxiety then build to such an intense degree that you surrender once again to thoughts (obsessions) or behaviours (compulsions), but unlike an alcoholic (who feels compelled to drink but also sometimes enjoys the drinking experience), the obsessive-compulsive person can achieve a type of relief through their ritual but usually no pleasure.

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Compulsions can include

• Hoarding, saving and collecting

• Symmetry

• Repetition

• Compulsive slowness

• Counting

• Contamination obsessions

• Ordering obsessions

• Religious obsessions

• Aggressive obsessions

• Sexual obsessions

• Cleaning and washing

• Checking

• Touching

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The 'bread and butter' of hypnotherapy is changing habits and behaviours, so OCD is perfectly suited to this therapy.