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obsessions
In some professions it is a good thing to be slightly obsessional about certain aspects; such as being a fireman or a health and asfety officer. However, when we become obsessed about small aspects of our lives and are unable to carry on with other important matters, this is when obsessional behaviours become a problem.
In most cases obsessional behaviours are a coping mechanism for stress, providing relief, a sense of security and safety when things seem out of your control. Hypnotherapy is very effective in relieving not only the symptoms but also the sources of stress, allowing individuals to depend less upon, and be free from, their obsessions.
Obsessions, or obsessional behaviours, take many forms. Contact Contamination - people worrying about the cleanliness of the environment, trichotillomania - where people feel compelled to pull their hair out, Mental Contamination - other people's behaviour have resulted in the person feeling dirty resulting in metaphorical cleaning behaviour, Rumination - this is an obessional pattern where people pursue a train of thought which undirected and unproductive, Symmetry - everything having to be in its place, Avoidance - some individuals with obessional behaviours will go to extreme lengths to avoid the people or objects which trigger their obessional behaviour.
We view the world though filters. These are built up through our experiences. The more intense the experience the more it informs our thoughts and perceptions of the world. For example someone who has been attacked by a dog may well develop a way of thinking that assumes there are many dogs in the vicinity and that they are all aggressive. This is a natural defense mechanism, but also an example of distorted thinking arising from the filters which are constructed from both stressful and positive experiences. Obsessional behaviours can have their root in past traumatic experiences which have given rise to a particular form of defensive, preparatory behaviour.
Hypnotherapy allows us to address not only the stress elements triggering obsessional behaviours but also change perceptions of past traumatic events, improve negative distorted beliefs and alleviate disruptive coping mechanisms. Hypnotherapy has historically been very effetctive in treating obessional behaviours.