OCD

Once again I would really appreciate some expert guidance with a client. In two days, I will be seeing a gentleman who has been suffering from OCD for16 years. During that time he has had two short remissions.

He has been in therapy, tried the ERP and is now on a 5 drug cocktail to control symptoms. However, it is no longer working effectively.

I was thinking of working with relaxation , teaching self hypnosis and some direct suggestion. Would you be so kind as to suggest what you think would better serve this gentleman?

Your guidance is always so very much appreciated. This will be my first OCD client.

Sincerely, Michele Merrick

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Permalink Reply by Michael Ellner on August 2, 2010 at 8:14am

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder - HypnoThoughts.com
http://www.hypnothoughts.com/forum/topics/obsessive-compulsive-diso...

Warmest regards,

me

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Permalink Reply by Antoine Pruyssers on August 2, 2010 at 5:06pm

As I have not reacted to the other discussion, I will post my reply here.

The first one I had with OCD, I thought of prescribing the symptoms:
It was a young man, who needed to put his chair straight in front of his desk and before going to sleep, hit the on-off switch multiple times, and then look at the chair.
So I put him in a nice hallucinatory trance, and made him imagine being ready to go to bed, but first making him do his routine, but instead of making him do the lightswitch 10 or 20 times, I told him to do it 100 times, and nod when he was done.
When he nodded, I had him do it a 1000 times, "because the chair was not quite straight", and nod when he was done, again.
Well, off course the chair was in on the prank, because when he nodded for the second time, I had him do it all over again, but this time 10.000 times.
The expression on the boys face was unforgettable, because he really started to get sick and tired of doing the
chair-and-light-switch-thing, and he sighed before going to it, and at that moment I anchored that state, to the image of the light-switch.
I added some post hypnotic suggestions, that would collapse the anchor, as soon as his mind started picking up the realization, that he could CHOOSE to do what he did, and that it is his mind and body, so he gets to "drive" it.
He's been fine since then.

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Permalink Reply by Kelley Woods on August 2, 2010 at 5:27pm

Pure wonder...Antoine. Almost makes me want some compulsions for you to deal with!

Antoine Pruyssers said:

As I have not reacted to the other discussion, I will post my reply here.

The first one I had with OCD, I thought of prescribing the symptoms:
It was a young man, who needed to put his chair straight in front of his desk and before going to sleep, hit the on-off switch multiple times, and then look at the chair.
So I put him in a nice hallucinatory trance, and made him imagine being ready to go to bed, but first making him do his routine, but instead of making him do the lightswitch 10 or 20 times, I told him to do it 100 times, and nod when he was done.
When he nodded, I had him do it a 1000 times, "because the chair was not quite straight", and nod when he was done, again.
Well, off course the chair was in on the prank, because when he nodded for the second time, I had him do it all over again, but this time 10.000 times.
The expression on the boys face was unforgettable, because he really started to get sick and tired of doing the
chair-and-light-switch-thing, and he sighed before going to it, and at that moment I anchored that state, to the image of the light-switch.
I added some post hypnotic suggestions, that would collapse the anchor, as soon as his mind started picking up the realization, that he could CHOOSE to do what he did, and that it is his mind and body, so he gets to "drive" it.
He's been fine since then.

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Permalink Reply by Antoine Pruyssers on August 2, 2010 at 5:41pm

Let's not!

Kelley Woods said:

Pure wonder...Antoine. Almost makes me want some compulsions for you to deal with!

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Permalink Reply by Michael Ellner on August 2, 2010 at 7:38pm

Very Masterful Antoine!

me

Antoine Pruyssers said:

As I have not reacted to the other discussion, I will post my reply here.

The first one I had with OCD, I thought of prescribing the symptoms:
It was a young man, who needed to put his chair straight in front of his desk and before going to sleep, hit the on-off switch multiple times, and then look at the chair.
So I put him in a nice hallucinatory trance, and made him imagine being ready to go to bed, but first making him do his routine, but instead of making him do the lightswitch 10 or 20 times, I told him to do it 100 times, and nod when he was done.
When he nodded, I had him do it a 1000 times, "because the chair was not quite straight", and nod when he was done, again.
Well, off course the chair was in on the prank, because when he nodded for the second time, I had him do it all over again, but this time 10.000 times.
The expression on the boys face was unforgettable, because he really started to get sick and tired of doing the
chair-and-light-switch-thing, and he sighed before going to it, and at that moment I anchored that state, to the image of the light-switch.
I added some post hypnotic suggestions, that would collapse the anchor, as soon as his mind started picking up the realization, that he could CHOOSE to do what he did, and that it is his mind and body, so he gets to "drive" it.
He's been fine since then.

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Permalink Reply by Michele Merrick on August 3, 2010 at 4:16am

What a truly clever person you are. I've never used a halluncinatory trance before but will definitely research it. After all the good advice, i think I will call him back to see if i can get some more specifics regarding his particular symptoms. Fascinating story.

Antoine Pruyssers said:

As I have not reacted to the other discussion, I will post my reply here.

The first one I had with OCD, I thought of prescribing the symptoms:
It was a young man, who needed to put his chair straight in front of his desk and before going to sleep, hit the on-off switch multiple times, and then look at the chair.
So I put him in a nice hallucinatory trance, and made him imagine being ready to go to bed, but first making him do his routine, but instead of making him do the lightswitch 10 or 20 times, I told him to do it 100 times, and nod when he was done.
When he nodded, I had him do it a 1000 times, "because the chair was not quite straight", and nod when he was done, again.
Well, off course the chair was in on the prank, because when he nodded for the second time, I had him do it all over again, but this time 10.000 times.
The expression on the boys face was unforgettable, because he really started to get sick and tired of doing the
chair-and-light-switch-thing, and he sighed before going to it, and at that moment I anchored that state, to the image of the light-switch.
I added some post hypnotic suggestions, that would collapse the anchor, as soon as his mind started picking up the realization, that he could CHOOSE to do what he did, and that it is his mind and body, so he gets to "drive" it.
He's been fine since then.

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Permalink Reply by Michele Merrick on August 3, 2010 at 4:21am

Thank you, I found the link interesting. You might find the book Train YOur Mind, Change Your Brain by Sharon Begley interesting. There is a very interesting study in book documenting OCD and mindfulness training and the effectiveness of this approach. it also talks about the OCD circuit in the brain.

Jay Budzynski said:

Hi

You might find this really useful to read.

http://www.23nlpeople.com/brain/neurobiology_of_ocd.php

J

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Permalink Reply by Michele Merrick on August 3, 2010 at 4:30am

Thank you for the link. It's very helpful to read what the thoughts of the experts are. I've been reading about the effectiveness of mindfulness training for OCD clients. Does your approach with meditation include this as well? I've been trying to think of how to meld the mindfulness into a hypnosis session. Thanks for getting the conversation rolling........

Michael Ellner said: