Eszter Noble is an RTT® practitioner, Clinical Hypnotherapist, and Coach, specializing in anxiety, fears, and depression. Her method utilizes the most effective techniques from CBT, NLP, psychotherapy, and hypnotherapy, with the ability to provide freedom from any issues and deliver permanent, lasting solutions.
In recent years, these three little letters have become more popular than a trendy TikTok dance. Let’s take a moment, though, and give them the respect they deserve. Wanting to colour code your pens or being anal about arriving on time does not qualify as having OCD.
OCD is characterized by recurring, intrusive, and distressing thoughts (obsessions) and repetitive behaviours (compulsions) that a person feels compelled to perform. These symptoms can significantly interfere with daily functioning, reduce quality of life, and cause substantial distress. Many people with OCD also experience co-occurring mental health conditions, such as depression, eating disorders, and generalized anxiety disorder.
How to tell if you have OCD?
I would advise that we refrain from self-diagnosis and allow a professional to make that call. OCD will be identified by a mental health specialist by evaluating:
The presence and frequency of obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviours.
The level of psychological distress caused by these symptoms.
The impact on important relationships and daily functioning.
The presence of other psychiatric conditions that might be contributing.
In many cases a practitioner can identify OCD by asking these key questions:
Do you have any repetitive thoughts that interfere seriously with your life?
Do you wash excessively?
Do you constantly check to see that things are right?
Many people with OCD recognize that their thoughts and behaviours are unrealistic but are simply unable to stop. Some may have poor or no insight into their symptoms, which can make treatment more challenging, especially if it has been a part of their life for years.
What is it doing for you and what does the fridge have to do with it?
If you suffer from OCD, you may be very upset by it and often utter some curse words, but even if it’s mostly misguided, the behaviour has a role and a function in your life. So, what is it trying to do for you? Make no mistake, any action we take serves a purpose and it is meeting some sort of need. ‘Luckily’ there’s a whole list to choose from:
You need to calm your nervous system
Engaging in repetitive motions can redirect mental and physical focus away from anxiety-inducing stimuli, allowing the mind to shift from an active, aggravated state to a passive, more calm state. The need to execute those actions to perfection requires a lot of focus. When you focus on the action, you’re not thinking about your problems or the intrusive thoughts.
You need to feel safe
The mind absolutely hates what is unfamiliar and will usually try to steer us away from it. Immersing yourself in a familiar and repetitive activity, will be soothing for the mind and give a sense of safety that it so desperately craves.
You need stability, a sense of reassurance
When problems arise in our life, it can be very stressful, especially if we haven’t had to deal with a certain type of situation before, that we are now faced with. The uncertainty, not knowing how or if we will be able to cope can feel unbearable. Repetitive action can help alleviate these feelings even if it’s just a very temporary solution.
You need a quick fix
We often struggle to see the big picture, we very much live in a world of instant gratification and having a quick, easy and accessible remedy to our problem is always welcome. Of course, in the long run washing your hands twenty times won’t solve your actual, deep-rooted problem but it does soothe for the time being and gives a certain distance from the issue that should actually be dealt with.
You need to feel in control
Children can be affected by OCD as well, and it can begin as early as age 10. Growing up we don’t have a lot of control over our lives, are sometimes forced to do things we don’t want or agree with, and that feeling of helplessness often stays. Having that repetitive action to fall back on can give a sense of control we so desperately long for and helps for the time being.
But what does the fridge have to do with all of this?
Many years ago, I noticed a strange behaviour in myself and although it wasn’t stopping me from living my life, it did raise some eyebrows around me. Although no one around me left the fridge door open, leaving all the food to spoil, and my life was never threatened by starvation, I became absolutely obsessed with making sure the fridge door was thoroughly closed. I would lean against it repeatedly with my whole body weight as if a gorilla was trapped on the inside, pushing against the door. Ridiculous, I know. Fortunately, it didn’t take me long at all to realise what the problem was. It was a very turbulent time in my life, and so much was beyond my control that I desperately craved some security, power, and reassurance. As silly as it sounds, I chose the fridge as my saviour in these hard times. The mind is amazing, and it can come up with the most bizarre ‘solutions’ to our issues.
The complexity of OCD
To understand OCD is to understand the mind. As you may expect it’s not simply down to one component or one singular issue that causes OCD but getting a better understanding of the mind and how it works, can help us overcome compulsions and bad behaviours.
Attain peace of mind by considering the following:
Acknowledge your emotions but then release them through movement, working out.
True self-awareness requires us to look at the bare facts, in an objective way.
Take your power back, let go of blame, shame, complaining and excuses.
Alter the words you use and then create a better vision in your mind.
Interpret your story in a new way. The past does not have to hold you hostage.
Never fall back into the old patterns. Upgrading your self-image is the only way forward.
The one ingredient OCD cannot live without
We all know it, we all experienced it, doubt is what OCD feeds on. We doubt ourselves for several key reasons:
Past experiences: Negative experiences, failures, or setbacks can create fear of repeating mistakes and fuel self-doubt.
Childhood upbringing: Narcissistic or overly critical parents, frequent comparisons with siblings, or overprotective parenting can contribute to self-doubt later in life.
Fear of failure: The anxiety about not meeting expectations, either self-imposed or perceived from others, can lead to self-doubt and avoidance of new challenges.
Perfectionism: Setting unrealistically high standards for oneself can lead to constant self-criticism and feelings of inadequacy.
Comparisons with others: Constantly measuring ourselves against others can highlight perceived shortcomings and fuel insecurity.
Imposter syndrome: The fear of being exposed as a fraud or undeserving of success, despite evidence to the contrary.
Insecure attachments: Past experiences of criticism or feeling "not good enough" can contribute to ongoing self-doubt.
Societal pressure: The deep-rooted pressure to achieve can sometimes be more harmful than motivating.
Self-doubt often stems from a complex interplay of these factors, rather than a single cause and I’m sure there is something in the list we can all identify with. Understanding its origins can be helpful, but learning to overcome self-doubt is far more important.
The somewhat unconventional path to take
Some very effective treatments for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder include Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), particularly Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), being one of the most effective forms of psychotherapy for OCD. ERP involves gradually exposing patients to feared situations or obsessions while teaching them to resist performing compulsive behaviours. Understandably, this can be difficult and time-consuming.
Building your confidence and using some effective strategies to overcome doubt can be very helpful and improve all areas of your life. Some important aspects to focus on are:
Adopting a growth mindset that involves viewing challenges as opportunities for learning, rather than as threats. This perspective helps cultivate resilience and boosts confidence in your ability to grow and improve over time.
Recognize and confront negative self-talk by questioning its validity. Reframe these thoughts into positive affirmations that reinforce your strengths and capabilities.
Acknowledging achievements is something that isn’t done enough. Keep a record of your accomplishments, no matter how small. Reflecting on past successes can serve as a powerful reminder of your abilities and boost your self-esteem. Don’t ever take yourself and your abilities for granted.
Identify and leverage your unique strengths to shift focus away from self-doubt. Understanding what you excel at can empower you to take on new challenges with confidence. If you struggle to identify them, ask a friend, someone you trust.
Strengthening your self-esteem and working on improving your self-image can only be a benefit, even if it’s not the conventional way of dealing with OCD, it will work wonders. As mentioned, OCD thrives on doubt and uncertainty, so any effort to reduce self-doubt will be extremely helpful.
It’s also important to remember that once we understand a behaviour, why we do it and how it attempts to comfort us, we might still continue to do it out of habit. You may well get to a point where it’s no longer a compulsion, but you keep doing the behaviour out of habit. That is exactly why dealing with OCD is complex and requires a personalised approach.
When all else fails, hypnotherapy can bring clarity
Even though there has been research done that strongly suggests that OCD has a significant genetic component, I strongly believe that it is something we develop, and we are not born with it. First-degree relatives of individuals with OCD have a 4-fold increased risk of developing the disorder but that is mostly down to adapting to our environment, we live what we see. A small child will always look to the adults around to make sense of the world. They will unavoidably pick up behaviours and mimic what they observe.
OCD has a complex polygenic architecture, meaning many genetic variants contribute small effects to OCD risk rather than a single gene being responsible. While genetics can contribute to OCD risk, it's important to note that OCD is a complex disorder involving multiple biological pathways and environmental influences. Having a genetic predisposition does not mean someone will definitely develop OCD. Therefore, understanding what happened in developmental years is crucial to grasping the situation fully. Hypnotherapy is a wonderful tool that can help with gathering relevant information and identifying root causes. By accessing the subconscious mind, we can quickly and effectively gain insight into significant scenes and memories that unleashed the problem.
Throughout the healing process, it’s important to remember that fundamentally our mind is looking for an explanation. It simply wants to understand and fix the original problem. I worked with a remarkable young girl who managed to open up under hypnosis and speak about the abuse she suffered in her own home, a place where she should have felt safe and protected. As a result of the ongoing abuse, she would sit in her room for hours, organizing everything, putting all her dolls away, making sure all the toys were arranged by size and colour. She would obsess over the pillows on her bed and when she felt they didn't look perfect, she would throw them on the floor and start over.
At the peak of her frustration, she would yell: "Of course I deserve this, I can't even arrange some pillows properly! I am so useless. I'm such an idiot!" Unfortunately, the mind doesn’t always interpret events well and we can see how she was trying to make some sort of sense of the situation. For her, not being able to complete a task perfectly meant that she deserved to be punished, it was her explanation to an unbearable situation she found herself in over and over again.
Everything we do has a purpose, a reason, even if it may seem strange at first. All our behaviours serve a purpose and the important thing to understand is that you need to truly want the change, you need to believe that it can get better, that there is hope for you. It will be a daily task to stay focused and ensure that you don’t fall back into the old story or the old identity.
It's extremely important to have a clear vision, to know what you want, to know exactly how you want to be. Updating your self-image and believing that you are worthy of a better life is absolutely crucial for improving the quality of your life and breaking free from OCD.
Read more from Eszter Noble
Eszter Noble, Clinical Hypnotherapist & Coach
Eszter Noble is an established Clinical Hypnotherapist using the RTT® (Rapid Transformational Therapy) method, trained by world-renowned hypnotherapist Marisa Peer. She is known for dealing with extremely difficult cases and clients who have been stuck for years and who have tried it all. Specializing in anxiety, fears, and depression, she is extremely intuitive and honest, dedicated to empowering her clients to become the best possible versions of themselves. Offering her expertise in English, German, and Hungarian, Eszter’s mission is to take the taboo out of therapy.
