We can think of an obsession as an unwanted thought that gets stuck, and a compulsion as an unwanted behaviour which takes us over so we have no control over it.

Anyone can develop an obsession simply by trying not to think of it - don’t think of a pink elephant right now and we are in danger of being trampled to death by a herd of elephants. It is as if the unwanted thought “hypnotises” us and fills our awareness. Hypnosis can help to play with the thought and have more freedom around it so that it becomes “just a thought” or disappears completed, just as a bully loses interest when we don’t play their game.

Compulsions can “hypnotise” us [we become focussed and absorbed in the unwanted behaviour] so we can then help someone to “come out of trance” so they are no longer “hypnotised” by the compulsion or we can invite such a person into a preferred experience that they can focus on and become absorbed in.

Rather than treating OCD, I have a strong preference to approach these problems in this way.

Rob McNeilly

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Rob