Using NLP™ to Eliminate OCD
I had the father of a 26 year old, write to me to see if I could help his daughter who has been diagnosed with “severe OCD, since she was 8 years old”. 18 YEARS!
He told me the OCD was so severe the daughter was on total state disability and had all but given up on her dream to go to medical school. Dad told me the young girl had been the subject of a television documentary 18 years ago on children with OCD.
I invited them both over for a cup of tea to chat about what NLP™ is, what is n0t, and
to observe them both and give the young woman a chance to connect with me and see if she wanted to make the changes in her life to eliminate her symptoms, if it was possible. The young woman explained that she washed her hands in excess of 100 times a day to the point where her knuckles bled from the cracking and dryness this caused to her skin. She expressed a few other less severe problems as well but the hand washing was what she considered her biggest obstacle in life. She was a very intelligent person in my estimation.
When they came for this brief meet and greet, the young woman, expressed that she was fearful of “treatment” since she had been to many psychologists and psychiatrists over the years without results and she didn’t want to get her hopes up any more. I observed the father’s attempts to control and maneuver the conversation. I told her to think it over and that she would know if this were the right step to take and to contact me when she was ready to make an appointment. About 3 weeks went by and she contacted me for an appointment. This was an important step in the change process for her to take control of her own processes. Step one!
When she arrived for the private appointment, having driven more than 2 hours to see me, she was anxious and told me she didn’t know what to expect. Very quickly we were laughing about the L. A. freeway system and different types of drivers and she began to relax a bit. I began to question her about HOW she knew it was time wash her hands. It took a bit of guiding to get her to answer my specific elicitation questions until she said:
“I say to myself, your hands are dirty, go wash your hands and get them clean”. I asked her who’s voice was saying that? She discovered it was her own voice. I saw her listen inside to check it and she said “yes, it’s my voice”. I asked her what kind of tone of voice she uses and she said: “well, I call it my OCD voice” and I asked her to teach me her OCD voice. She responded the following, in sharp, quick, louder tones: “IT’S VERY CONFIDENT, VERY DIRECT AND URGENT and I say “YOUR HANDS ARE DIRTY, GO AND WASH THEM AND GET THEM CLEAN! in that tone”. I widened my eyes and told her, “WOW what great leadership abilities you have, you should congratulate yourself”. She looked puzzled and asked me what I meant. I said, “well, if someone spoke to you that way (and especially when she was 8) – VERY CONFIDENT, VERY DIRECT and URGENT and said: “YOUR HANDS ARE DIRTY, GO AND WASH THEM AND GET THEM CLEAN”, wouldn’t you know exactly what to do from that? She laughed and said “yes, I guess so”. I told her the good news is that she was just misinforming herself about the facts, and however that started, it didn’t matter any more and that the OCD voice was going to be very useful to her in new ways now. She comprehended what I meant immediately. So I led her conversationally, to get some clarity about her cleanliness standards to really know when hand washing was appropriate and when her hands were in fact, clean enough, and then to simply use her OCD voice to communicate accurately and honestly because we know that already works perfectly well. The new phrase she came up with using the OCD voice was: “I AM COMFORTABLE THAT MY HANDS ARE CLEARN ENOUGH AND I HAVE OTHER THINGS I’M GOING TO DO NOW, INSTEAD”. We future paced this and spent the rest of the session talking about what she was going to do instead, now that she’s going to have so much more time available to do other things. We actually calculated about how many hours a month/year she used up with “that old hand washing thing” and with so much time now wide open, she began to talk about wanting to go back to school, finish her undergraduate classes and apply to med school.
I made an appointment for her to return so we could make a few more changes in other areas. In the follow up appointment, she told me she had totally stopped washing her hands except for the appropriate times by her standards, which were all quite normal
things such as, after using the restroom et al. She expressed being on friendly terms with her OCD voice now, and using it to do things she actually wants to do, rather than things she doesn’t want, and that never occurred to her before and now it made so much sense to her. And most importantly, it was working. It’s now been about 16 weeks since the initial appointment and the client reports no OCD hand washing. I’m paraphrasing the process I used and it’s perhaps a slight oversimplification, but not by much. And what has never ceased to amaze me with NLP™ is how people will tell you exactly HOW they have their problem and most of time, therein lies the biggest clue of how to change it, with a little creativity. Very often, I like to use the very process that’s been working to get the wrong outcome and turn it around and use it to defeat the problem. After all, we know it works, right! Milton Erickson was great at this. My favorite Erickson book on this is Milton H. Erickson, An American Healer. http://www.amazon.com/Milton-H-Erickson-M-D-American/dp/0966650980/ref=as_li_wdgt_ex?&linkCode=wey&tag=reikiclarity-20
The other issues that needed some change/tweeking were to learn to set some well formed goals for her future, and to amp up her sense of self control in other areas. In the second session, I taught her about well formed goals, had her write out 10 new well formed goals and write the first 2 action steps to achieving each of them. For the lack of control she had been feeling with her family, I had her draw a control panel, installed it and sent her on her way to play with it. She says her family dynamics have shifted appreciably and they are all working together now without argument. She found her boundaries and is expressing them to others in a comfortable and compassionate way to everyone’s delight. Her dad is saving up his money to take my NLP™ Practitioner course because of quick and profound changes he has seen in his daughter. I heard
from my client that she has enrolled back in college for the fall semester and has rediscovered her passion for reading and is looking forward to medical school.
18 years of thinking she had OCD, medications with a host of side effects – not the least of which were fatigue, lack of focus and sleepiness has all changed in 2 appointments. Now, I can’t say whether she really had OCD or she just had a slight miscommunication to herself at the UNconscious level, and that discovering the sub-modalities of tonality and using them in new ways simply made a more clear communication for a completely different outcome. I have my opinions and I’m guessing you do too.
Pam Castillo has had a private NLP™ practice since 1999 when she founded
Clarity Institute in Los Angeles. Clarity Institute also offers NLP™ Certification Training, workshops and Hypnosis Certification Training. Pam holds certifications and licenses in all the Bandler Technologies and is a proud member of The Society of NLP™, Richard Bandler. Visit Clarity Institute on the web at: www.NLPClarity.com for more information.
