Obsessions and Compulsions
An obsession is an idea that invades consciousness with sufficient power to supplant the will. This creates anxiety, quickly followed by a behaviour to attempt to control the thought and conflict created from the unwelcome idea.
We all have obsessive thoughts and we all have compulsions to follow them to one degree or another. Sometimes these dramas are conscious; at other times, they are not. At times we devise “magical” rituals, whose purpose it is to lower the anxiety and control our functions. Sometimes they take over our lives and become all-consuming. Obsessions – as hurtful as they may be – can actually provide stimulus, and many high achievers are in fact living out their obsessions through activities that serve them.
However, some obsessions are very debilitating, such as stalking, jealousy, thinking one has committed a crime, cleanliness and the like. These are really what are called “projections” of the psyche, on to something else or another person.
In a case of stalking or jealousy, it should not be consider to be happening due to a state of love, for it is not; it is pure projection of what is in our unconscious and out of our sight or knowledge. That “something” is buried inside of us and has to find an outlet, and what is called an obsessional projective identification occurs.
Falling in love happens through projective identification - for a while, our “missing pieces” reflect back to us in the other person. A person who is suffering from emotional pain and obsessional over-reaction from a break-up is probably struggling to cope with the rejection or loss of that missing part that they thought they had found to make them whole.
An obsessional thought followed by a compulsive act ties us to the "same old same old". What obsessional does not feel trapped in the circle of self-defeating thoughts and behaviours? Rather than seeing the compulsive drinker or gambler as a “loser”, we must see this person as someone with a need for control of the sense of self.
Whatever structure we erect to bolster our shaky sense of self, our compulsive patterns are defences, whether we know it or not. All compulsions are really anxiety management techniques.
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Common obsessions |
Common compulsions |
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Contaminations fears of dirt, germs etc. |
Washing |
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Imagining having harmed self or others |
Repeating |
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Imagining losing control of aggressive urges |
Checking |
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Intrusive sexual thoughts or urges |
Touching |
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Excessive religious or moral doubt |
Counting |
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Forbidden thoughts |
Ordering/arranging |
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A need to have things "just so" |
Hoarding or saving |
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A need to tell, ask, confess |
Praying |
The task through hypnotherapy from a proper hypno-psychotherapist is to get underneath the obsession, to deconstruct the compulsion, to find the drivers so we can bear the unbearable, think the unthinkable, and suffer the insufferable, in order to be free.
For Hypnotherapy Birmingham and help with Obsessions, Compulsions and Addictions, call me on 0121 707 3588.