Can hypnotherapy work for OCD? Well, as always, it’s not a magic wand, but a 2021 study said that hypnotherapy has “more advantages than general psychotherapy for OCD” [1].

Your journey to overcoming OCD starts with your mind. Hypnotherapy gives you tools to reframe your thought patterns, potentially reducing the impact of obsessions and compulsions and paving the way towards a brighter, more balanced future. To find out how I can help you, get in touch.

Symptoms of OCD

OCD stands for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. It has two components. Obsessions are repetitive, unwanted, negative thoughts that intrude on your thinking. Compulsions are urges to carry out specific acts or rituals to try to quiet or remove those thoughts.

Obsessions are often around issues which genuinely concern safety or health. For example, most of us wash our hands after going to the toilet and before preparing food. We check that the door is locked before leaving for work. But if you have OCD, the anxiety about germs or home invasion can become so overwhelming that you have to develop some kind of coping behaviour to reduce it. The most common behaviours that develop in this way are cleaning, hand-washing and checking but counting, measuring, touching and other repetitive behaviours can also be a part of it. Most people with OCD realise that there isn’t much logic to their behaviour, but trying to stop makes them even more anxious.

Types of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

  • Arrangers – seek out habits that give the illusion of order and balance.
  • Catastrophists – anticipate that disaster will occur if they do not complete their rituals.
  • Checkers – repeatedly check whether sources of possible harm are made safe, for example, whether doors are locked, or switches are off.
  • Counters/Arrangers – this can be centred on perfect symmetry and putting things in order.
  • Hoarders – fear that throwing away any belongings may result in some sort of calamity.

Famous people with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder [2]

  • Daniel Radcliffe
  • Leonardo Di Caprio
  • Harrison Ford
  • David Beckham

You’re not alone if you have OCD. Apart from these well-known personalities, around 2-3% of us experience some kind of obsessive-compulsive behaviour. OCD is normally thought of as an adult condition, but it can affect children as well.

Therapy for OCD

Hypnotherapy can help you to achieve inner calmness and promote relaxation, breaking the cycle of anxiety and panic. It can help you to overcome OCD’s obsessive thoughts and develop coping strategies that allow you to feel safe without carrying out compulsive behaviours, and it may also help you identify the root cause of the underlying anxiety.

EMDR, a version of which I also offer, has proved effective with OCD as well. It has “comparable completion rates and clinical outcomes” with CBT [3]. This can be combined with hypnotherapy or they can be used separately.

If you’d like to learn more about using the help I can offer for OCD, please contact me. I offer free therapy for OCD online and in person.

*References:

[1] Dai, Z., 2021. A Review of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.
[2] https://summitmalibu.com/blog/celebrities-and-famous-people-with-ocd
[3] https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/cpp.2120

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