On average, one in 50 people will experience OCD at some point in their lifetime. It is well known and understood that millions of people around the world will encounter this condition and it is a lot more common than you may think.

OCD is a combination of obsessive, intrusive thoughts which typically create anxiety, self-doubt, guilt and compulsive behaviours to try to eliminate the thoughts.

The precise thoughts and rituals that someone may experience can vary enormously. Some people experience the need to obsessively check that they have locked things, others obsessively clean, or the need may have less obvious, such as touching objects a certain number of times, or going over and over words in their mind, or arranging bits and pieces in specific patterns.

Many people with OCD feel misunderstood, because others may dismiss their symptoms as just quirkiness or just being a bit weird. It can be really be difficult for some people to understand that this isn’t something that a person is doing deliberately, it is not something they can just decide to switch off when they feel like it.

Perhaps the person felt that they needed to hide their symptoms, to “act naturally” when feeling the need to carry out a particular behaviour. Maybe they have even felt isolated or frustrated by how the OCD has been controlling their life, and stealing away their ability to relax and enjoy themselves

OCD can sometimes be triggered by a high stress and anxiety levels or a significant change to a persons’ life. It has also been reported that it can be hereditary and some people may be more genetically predisposed to it than others. It has also been noted that the part of the brain that would normally dismiss a worry as irrelevant, or as unimportant, can be found to be underactive in a person that suffers from OCD which will make those intrusive thoughts harder to dismiss.

Trying to force a thought out of the mind will often increase the feelings and significance that a person maybe attaching to it, and trying to distract oneself with a mental distraction like counting or checking to make sure the worry wasn’t true, all train the brain to be more intense.

The most common and effective treatment method is too simply to expose yourself to the trigger for the compulsion, whether it be dirt, a locked door or an intrusive thought, and to deliberately do nothing, so that the brain can be retrained to feel calm and neutral about the trigger.

How can hypnotherapy assist in moving forward again and regaining the sense of well-being?
Hypnotherapy can assist in:

• resistance to releasing the block of emotions, shortening the journey to recovery, reducing the stresses and anxieties and retaining the brain for feel more neutral about the triggers;
• allow a person to express their emotions, release them and heal;
• allow a person to acknowledge what has taken place, realising the truth of the situation and move forward again;
• instinctively learn to calm yourself down and think rationally and more positively; and
• Build-up confidence and wellbeing.

For further information contact us on (03) 5223 2370 or via email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Karen Holt Clinical Hypnotherapy and Counselling
Clinical Hypnotherapist
AMAHS, MASCH, NFH

Image credit: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder