Using Hypnosis for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

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Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) causes people to have recurrent unwanted or unreasonable thoughts or sensations (obsessions) or make them feel driven to do something repeatedly (compulsions).

Common obsessions include fear of germs, while common compulsions include wanting to keep things in a particular order. If a compulsion cannot be accomplished, a person with OCD tends to become anxious.

Just like with anxiety, obsessive-compulsive behavior should only be considered a disorder if it causes difficulties in life. A low level of obsessive-compulsive behavior can be helpful.

For example, if a person worries that they might not have turned off the stove and double checks it once, this would help keep them safer. On the other hand, if a person cannot proceed with their daily tasks without checking the stove multiple times, the situation can be considered a disorder. Similarly, accountants who double-check their figures once or twice are more accurate in their work. However, if they have to check many times, they are dealing with OCD.

OCD Treatments

Common treatments for OCD include cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), certain types of anti-depressant medications (Hirschtritt, 2017), and a combination of both types of therapies.

A specific kind of CBT is exposure response prevention therapy. In this therapy, patients with OCD are encouraged to expose themselves to triggers of their OCD and learn to tolerate their anxiety when they don’t follow through on their compulsions or engage with their obsessive thoughts. After consistent therapy, the patients' anxiety decreases to a tolerable level that allows them to avoid OCD behavior comfortably and sometimes even resolves.

Hypnosis for OCD

There are few published studies about the effectiveness of hypnosis for OCD. However, for some patients in my practice, hypnosis appeared to be helpful.

Since the mainstay of psychological therapy for OCD involves learning to cope with anxiety caused by evading a thought or behavior related to the OCD, the hypnosis techniques to help relieve OCD are similar to those used in treating anxiety disorders.

For example, patients can be taught to calm themselves by imagining that they are in their favorite place that brings them happiness. They are coached to imagine what they might experience using all five senses to intensify their relaxation. Patients are then instructed how to trigger their relaxation response when dealing with OCD-related anxiety.

Some patients can imagine placing their anxiety in a helium balloon and letting it go. The further away the balloon travels, the less anxiety it can feel. Another hypnotic metaphor that is especially apt for obsessive thoughts is to observe them as if they are clouds in the sky that float by, rather than interacting with the thoughts.

Patients can be coached to take deep breaths using their diaphragm, which prompts their abdomen to expand with each inhalation. Such a breathing pattern for several breaths calms the mind and body by releasing calming body chemicals. Also, focusing on breathing can help distract the patients from their anxiety.

Hypnotic metaphors that help teach such a breathing pattern include imagining a sailboat at the lower tip of the breastbone that rises with each inhalation or imagining the belly button is tied to a yoyo string that rises each time a facilitator raises their hand in correspondence with each inhalation.

A hypnotic state can be used as a forum in which patients can rehearse imagined exposure to triggers of their OCD as part of exposure response prevention therapy.

For patients dealing with obsessive negative thoughts for which they seek reassurance from their family members or peers, it can be very helpful to teach them how to interact with their subconscious through hypnosis. Patients can then be encouraged to ask themselves for reassurance rather than relying on others. For example, a boy who consistently asks his mother whether he will become sick can learn to calm himself by hearing reassurance from his subconscious.

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Through hypnotic age regression, patients can imagine the very first time they developed their obsessive or compulsive behavior. Patients then can be coached to imagine addressing the trigger of their behavior at the time of its inception, which can help prevent its perpetuation.

For example, a patient who compulsively washed her hands recalled her behavior started when she was shamed for having dirty hands at the dinner table. Her compulsion was resolved by imagining in hypnosis that she had remained calm at the time and then washed her hands once (even though that had not occurred in real life).

Finally, hypnosis can prompt the patient to imagine how they will feel and act once their OCD improves. This can serve as a helpful, encouraging goal toward which they can continue to strive during therapy.

Takeaway

Hypnosis can help treat OCD by teaching patients skills to calm the anxiety that arises when patients learn how to avoid OCD thoughts and behaviors.

Copyright Ran D. Anbar

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