Hypnosis for OCD

Hypnotherapy OCD NottinghamHypnosis for OCD in Nottingham

OCD or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is a condition where a person either experiences obsessive thoughts or alternatively a compulsive activity. When there is an obsessive thought or image that enters the mind it can make the person anxious, fearful and uneasy. When it is a compulsion the person feels as if they need to carry out an activity in order to release the uneasy feelings they are experiencing because of the thought. This compulsion may be carried out a number of times. Just some examples of compulsions are the need to check doors and locks or the need to repeatedly wash their hands. Our Hypnosis for OCD in Nottingham is designed to help you to take control of your thoughts and compulsions rather than allowing them to control you.*

Tel: 01636 650 521

OCD Unwanted Thoughts and Behaviours

There are generally four main categories of OCD which can create a problem and they are:

  • Repeated Checking
  • Fear of Contamination physically or mentally
  • Hoarding
  • Intrusive Thoughts

OCD sufferers can have difficulties leading a normal life because compulsive behaviour or thoughts can start to take over. The unconscious mind wants to lower anxiety and believes it can help by getting you to take action or think certain thoughts. When you allow these to happen your anxiety will temporarily lower. The problem is that this is just a temporary relief from the unhelpful thinking patterns and actions and your anxiety will start to rise again until you take action again. This leads to a cycle of repeated problem behaviour of thoughts.

When this happens you may:

  • Worry about germs or being contaminated by toxic substances.
  • You may count repeatedly in your mind or repeat certain words.
  • You may carry out repeated handwashing.
  • Some of my clients become obsessive about cleaning the house.
  • You may have intrusive thoughts that are sexual in nature or make you think you are going to hurt someone close to you.
  • You may find yourself tapping or touching objects all the time.
  • People worry about locking the door or turning off appliances and will check they have done it multiple times.
  • A few of my clients have repeatedly taken pictures on their phones to check they haven’t left anything behind.

The person with OCD symptoms will feel as if they will need to allow the compulsive thought or behaviour because if they do not there is the possibility that something bad could happen either to them or to their family. Many people are able to carry on with their lives and only experience a few problems because of the OCD but others will find that it can take over their life. Generally, it is considered problematic when it interferes with normal day-to-day functioning and relationships.

Anxiety Disorders Impact Your Mental Health

OCD is an anxiety disorder that is usually triggered by an incident in your past that makes you feel upset or scared. In order to protect you your subconscious mind will make you feel anxious about encountering a similar trigger that might harm or hurt you or someone else.

As a coping mechanism, the OCD sufferer will use repeated behaviours or thoughts as a way to stop feeling anxious. The problem is that action does not treat OCD and only serves to lower the anxiety temporarily before it rises again shortly afterward.

Some people feel that they have their OCD all the time whilst others may be able to control the problem or it returns when they are feeling stressed or worried. We use hypnosis for anxiety as a way of naturally calming down the fear/worry cycle.

Hypnosis for OCD is an effective treatment for both the anxiety caused by the condition as well as the underlying cause.

Why OCD Behaviour Can Be Helped With Hypnosis

Hypnotherapy can be an effective therapy for OCD because it allows a clinical hypnotherapist to access the subconscious mind. This enables you and your therapist to work on the unhelpful thought patterns driving your OCD symptoms. OCD often involves ingrained subconscious associations, rigid thinking, and repetitive habitual rituals. Hypnotherapy sessions can help you to work on these issues whilst in a relaxed state of mind.

Hypnosis facilitates relaxation in a trance-like state which focuses awareness and helps to make the mind more suggestible to positive new perspectives. This allows your hypnotherapist to introduce new ideas and behaviors that counteract OCD urges. For example, we may use visualization or mindfulness with our clients to disrupt the cycles that are triggering intrusive thoughts or behaviors.

Hypnotic regression also helps identify past events reinforcing OCD fears so that they can be reframed. Regression therapy makes sense of uncontrolled thoughts and behaviors if the underlying cause of the problem can be found.

In addition, hypnosis and hypnotherapy strengthen your motivation and provide positive reinforcement which is key to resisting compulsions.

Post-hypnotic suggestions help cement healthier automatic thoughts which can then replace obsessive ones. With practice, hypnotherapy essentially retrains your mind and makes you look at your issue with a new perspective. While CBT is also effective for OCD, hypnotherapy complements it by helping you understand the traumas that allow OCD to develop. By accessing the normally hidden drivers of OCD, clinical hypnosis provides a powerful therapy option for many people.*

OCD Treatments and Hypnotherapy

When we work with OCD we take a holistic approach to the problem. This means that we don’t just look at your presenting problem but also your lifestyle and stress levels.

Our sessions use a combination of therapeutic therapies to help create change. These can include:

  • Coaching
  • Mindfulness
  • NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming)
  • Visualisation Exercises
  • Hypnosis
  • Progressive Muscle Relaxation
  • Parts Therapy
  • Regression Techniques
  • Post Hypnotic Suggestions

Helping The Subconscious Mind Think Differently

Hypnosis can help to reshape subconscious thinking patterns because when you are in a hypnotic state positive suggestions are absorbed and accepted more readily by the subconscious mind.

You are guided into a focused, relaxed hypnotic trance by a therapist, and this enables your conscious analytical part of the mind to take a backseat. This creates an opening for the subconscious to become more prominent and malleable through heightened suggestibility.

A clinical hypnotherapist can then introduce new perspectives, attitudes, and behaviors that align with your conscious goals. Because the critical factor of the conscious mind is bypassed, these new learnings can be more easily implanted into the subconscious without resistance or doubt.

With repetition of the hypnotic suggestions over a number of sessions, the subconscious can unlearn dysfunctional old patterns of thinking and react. This allows you to create new neural pathways and automatic responses to replace old outdated ways of thinking or behaving.

The subconscious does not think logically like your conscious mind. This is because it has learned its response many years before usually when you were much younger. Hypnosis can help you to understand the reasons why it started to react in a certain way and that helps you to rationalise. Once you understand why something is occurring it is easier for conscious level change to occur.

Hypnosis VS CBT Therapy

Hypnotherapy and CBT are both talking therapies and are used as psychological therapy to change dysfunctional thinking patterns however their approaches are very different.

When you have CBT your therapist works on your conscious mind and helps you to modify your behaviour through altering habits and challenging your thoughts. Treating OCD with CBT can be helpful for some people however it does not deal with the root cause of your inner conflicts and OCD thoughts.

In contrast, hypnosis for OCD works on both the conscious and subconscious mind to help with obsessive-compulsive disorders.

When you are in a hypnotic state you can can work on relaxation techniques to calm down the anxiety disorder. During the deep relaxation of hypnosis, you will also be given suggestive therapy for change and imagined exposure visualisations.  This hypnotic state allows positive new perspectives to take root at a deep level which can help to alter unhelpful ingrained thoughts and behaviors.

Hypnotherapy also often identifies and resolves root causes like past trauma that may be overlooked by talking therapy. While CBT and hypnotherapy can complement each other, hypnotherapy’s ability to rapidly create change by tapping into the powerful subconscious mind differentiates it from purely cognitive and behavioral approaches.

Self-Hypnosis for OCD – Self-Help At Home

OCD is a form of anxiety and can respond well to self-help stress reduction techniques. All clients who attend sessions at our clinic are given a free anxiety hypnosis download to use at home as part of their treatment. Our stop anxiety download program can also be purchased online in our store.

Relaxation techniques such as self-hypnosis are great for helping you to calm your mind and switch off when you are in your own home. Our anxiety downloads help with worrying and negative thinking, stress, and feelings of panic and can also help you to relax your mind for better sleep. *

 

Self Hypnosis for OCD

Tel: 01636 650 521

Hypnotherapy for OCD

Our Hypnosis for OCD in Nottingham helps you to recognise that the condition is very treatable and that it can be managed. We may work with you on a stand-alone basis or combine the therapy with medication prescribed by your doctor as well as CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy).

Generally, when our clients attend their initial session we will take a comprehensive case history of the problem so that we can understand exactly how it is impacting you. Our initial sessions will concentrate on getting you to delay the behaviours or thoughts. By working with you to challenge the OCD we are beginning to place you back in control rather than the condition.*

We will also work with you to look at the part of you that experiences OCD as an unhelpful part that needs to be brought under control. When you and the behaviour or thought are separated it is easier for us to tackle. If necessary we will also work to discover if there is a root cause for your anxieties. If we are able to discover why the problem started in the first place it can be easier to find a new perspective on the problem which does not create such anxiety or unease.*

Hypnosis OCD Treatment

If you would like to get Hypnosis for OCD in Nottingham or would like to talk to us about any other issues please call us today for a free telephone consultation on:

Tel: 01636 650 521

* Disclaimer Please note that as this is a form of therapy we are unable to guarantee results which may vary from person to person

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