Can this work?

[Jereck]

Hi everyone i know there have been threads about erasing memories. I have been suffering from extreme ocd for about 4 months and it doesn't seem to be improving, i know it was triggered by several events at the beginning of this year, so could i any form of hypnosis (nlp, hypnosis, time line therapy etc) to remove any memories after the beginning of this year? So effectively if this is the case I would not remember any thing after February 2006.

[Don]

Hi, Jereck.

When you go to your doctor, do you tell him or what brand and dosage of medicines you need?

When you go to a dentist for a filling, do you tell him or her what anesthetic to use, where to drill, and for how long?

If you have a problem with your computer that you can't fix, do you tell the repair person what to do even though you don't know what to do?

So Jereck, why are you coming here and basically asking if it is okay to use some form of therapy that's going to screw up your memories for more than three months?

Wouldn't it be better to tell your doctor you have a problem, and let him or her diagnose the cause and treat it? Wouldn't it be better to tell your dentist that a tooth hurts and let him or her diagnose it and treat it? Wouldn't it be better to tell the computer repair person the symptoms of what's wrong with the computer and let him or her determine what to do?

And yet, you've come here with a medical diagnosis, may be ignoring what your doctor said, and are asking experts in the field if what you want to do would work.

Okay, now that I've been a bit of a bastard in response to your rudeness to us (you'd never do such things to a doctor or dentist, would you?) here is the bad news.

In direct answer to your question: no.

1) OCD is a medical diagnosis. Only a licensed medical professional can make such a diagnosis, and I would not treat anyone with OCD without a referral from the physician in charge.
1a) Either you've self-diagnosed, which could be in error or
1b) You're trying to get around your doctor's care.
I wouldn't help you with either.

2) No trained, certified, professional, ethical hypnotist in the world would do what you suggest for a wide variety of reasons that have been described many times in these forums and I'm not going to repeat them here.

Now that I've pissed you off by telling you that you've been rude to us and either have done self-diagnosis which could be incorrect or are dodging your licensed medical practitioner, I'm going to turn this around.

1) There is no single thing that is OCD. Rather, it manifests as a great variety of behaviors.
2) As a hypnotherapist, I can't legally cure anything. I can't even legally treat OCD unless I received a referral from your physician.
3) However, hypnotherapists make a living helping people change unwanted behaviors and creating new, wanted behaviors.
4) If a person comes to a trained, experienced, hypnotherapist and asks, "I've started with a set of behaviors that I no longer want to do, can you help me?" then every such hypnotherapist who specializes in this type of change will reply that they can help such a person.

So hypnotherapy can help you change. But no professional hypnotherapist I know would do what you ask.

That's because they're professionals and know what they're doing.

[Jereck]

Very unnecessary Don, i was only asking for some advice, ive already been diagnosed with ocd. My friend knows hypnosis and is willing to give it a go, however as he is unreliable I was just checking that it is actually possible first.

And don't give me that "dont tell me my job" attitude, im only suggesting an idea which nobody might have thought of yet. This idea is removing the memories of the past four months and replacing them with different memories.

Thanks,
Jereck.

[Don]

Hi, Jereck.

What you're suggesting:
1) In the future, let people who know nothing about hypnosis tell us what to do and how to do it.
2) After all, hypnotherapists are so stupid, they could have never thought of what someone who knows nothing about hypnosis might suggest
3) In the future, hypnotherapists should break the law and risk imprisonment for practicing medicine without a license by treating a medical problem without a legal referrar.
4) People trying to improve their lives should turn themselves over to people who know hypnosis but are unreliable

Sorry, Jereck, but I can't agree with any of your suggestions. Here's why:
1) I prefer the work of people who are experts in their fields over those who know nothing. I'll go to trained, licensed doctors instead of some bozo who hangs an "I are a dokter" sign in front of their house.
2) Successful hypnotherapists spend years studying their craft and developing their skills. People in the hypnotherapy profession know far more than someone who says, "Say! I could perform a do-it-yourself lobotomy!" and know why "unecological" suggestions are unethical and should not be given.
3) I'm not breaking the law for you or anyone else.
4) Anyone can learn how to hypnotize in a few minutes. Hypnotherapy requires study and practice. Go so someone who "knows hypnosis" for fun. Go to a hypnotherapist if you want to change.

Jereck, I know what you posted and I repeat what I said: no trained, professional, hypnotherapist would do what you suggest. Your idea that "nobody might have thought of yet" has been discussed on these forums many times, and the reason why it's a bad idea has been endlessly repeated. The fact is, hypnotherapists have been approached with your idea that "nobody might have thought of yet" long before you or I were born and have explained why the answer remains: it's not a good idea at all.

I said you'd be pissed off, and you were. You come here rudely telling professionals their job and you're upset that your rude behavior is being pointed out? You're upset because your self-centered egotism ("nobody might have thought of it yet") is shown to be unoriginal and unhelpful?

As I pointed out, when a decent person goes to an expert, he or she doesn't tell the expert what to do. Instead, a person really seeking help says, "Here's my problem. Can you help?"

In fact, my answer pointing out your rudeness pissed you off so much that you totally ignored the rest of my post. So let me try again:
1) OCD is a medical diagnosis and hypnotherapists practice hypnotherapy, not medicine. They cannot treat OCD.
2) However, there is no single thing that is OCD. OCD is a medical definition that covers a wide variety of behaviors.
3) Trained, professional hypnotherapists often help people change their behaviors.

You seem to think that hypnotherapists are too stupid to understand what you have written, but I'm trying to make it clear to you: If you have one or more behaviors you don't want any more, professional, trained hypnotherapists can easily and quickly help you or anyone else to change or eliminate an unwanted behavior.

So you can go to your unreliable friend who "knows hypnosis," tell him to give you suggestions that leave you open to worse behavior patterns if he is even partially successful, or you could go to a professional hypnotherapist and get real help.

The choice is yours.

[Jereck]

Hi, Don
First off, I do apologise if my comments came across as rude but I can assure you i was not intending to me and I still cannot see how you found them rude.

I do not think you are "stupid" and that you did not think of this idea but my obsessive behaviour is all mental and are not physical, therefore is it possible to change thse mental behaviours? If I do not do these mental behaviours the thoughts or urges to do them never seem to go, they stay there until I have performed the mental rituals, the same thought has stayed there months before. So if hypnosis can change these behaviours can it get rid of the urges to do past obsessions so you find them pointless.

Fair enough that my idea may have seemed laughable and may have pissed you off but as I am not a hypnotist how am i to know this. You keep mentioning a past topic talking about this and you do not want to reapeat why you do nto reccommend this. Could you please give me the link to this past topic if you do not wish to post your advice in this topic as i have looked through the archives and cannot find a topic othere that the "erase memories" topic which does not really answer anything.

I am not telling you your job, I am now asking for advice. How many sessions does changing unwanted behaviours usually take?

Thanks,
Jereck.

[Jimr1]

Hi everyone i know there have been threads about erasing memories. I have been suffering from extreme ocd for about 4 months and it doesn't seem to be improving, i know it was triggered by several events at the beginning of this year, so could i any form of hypnosis (nlp, hypnosis, time line therapy etc) to remove any memories after the beginning of this year? So effectively if this is the case I would not remember any thing after February 2006.
Jereck

the fact that you want to erase some memories implies to me that you might be "rehashing" in your mind the event after the fact. and ***IF*** that's true, then you don't need to erase anything. but what you do need to do is turn learn how to "run your brain" rather than it running you. if you're continually "reliving" the event in your mind(beyond any usefull purpose like learning from it), then I can give you some simple instructions to improve this. email me via private email and I'll advise you what to do and no I won't fee you for it

Jim

jimr_77024@yahoo.commoc

[Poodle]

Try NLP -- make sure the person is a Master Practitioner or Trainer and KNOWS about OCD's. Have a written referral with you from your licensed medical professional to give to the practitioner or NO help! Seems clearly easy enough, don't you think? None of us want to go to prison for practicing medicine without a license.

[Don]

therefore is it possible to change thse mental behaviours? If I do not do these mental behaviours the thoughts or urges to do them never seem to go, they stay there until I have performed the mental rituals, the same thought has stayed there months before. So if hypnosis can change these behaviours can it get rid of the urges to do past obsessions so you find them pointless.Jereck.


Hypnosis, in and of itself, cannot help.

However, a trained, experienced hypnotherapist can absolutely help you change your mental behaviors.

When you first make contact with a hypnotherapist, explain briefly what your symptoms are (as you did in your post) and ask if he or she has had experience in this area.

The DSM IV is a guidebook for psychiatrists and psychologists and is used by insurance companies. If a person has ailment X is should take Y number of sessions to "fix," so insurance companies will pay for Y sessions only.

Hypnotherapy is not psychotherapy. A hypnotherapist views each client as an individual requiring specific, individualized care. Therefore, what works for one person may not work for another, even though the symptoms are the same. Therefore, I cannot give you an exact number of sessions you might need. However--and other may disagree with me--if you do not see major changes for the better within 3-6 sessions, you should start looking elsewhere.

Poodle has suggested seeking an experienced, master practitioners of NLP. I am not an NLP practitioner, but I have respect for those who are. You might check into it and find help with such a person. From what I do know of NLP, I would again say that if you are not experiencing major changes for the better within 3-6 sessions, you should look elsewhere.

Now, there is one last thing I want to stress to you:

Sometimes we get so wrapped up in things that it seems like nothing can work and nothing can help us change. This is the conscious mind speaking! With hypnosis and NLP the conscious is bypassed so that your unconscious, instead of controlling you in a way you don't want, can be convinced to help you do what is right for you.

Sometimes, the unconscious can become (for lack of a better term) confused. It does what it thinks is good for us (in your situation, telling your conscious to go over and over the same thing) when in reality it is not good for us. Unfortunately, communicating with the unconscious so it will do what you want, rather than what it wants, is not something we are taught in school. Hypnotherapists and NLP practitioners don't cure anything and don't do anything to you. Rather, they work with you and communicate with the unconscious in a way it understands. The result is a desired change either eliminating an unwanted behavior or changing to a new and desired behavior.

The bottom line is that although you may feel like there is nothing and no one who can help you--or perhaps you've been offered drugs to make you "better" as long as you take them--real help for positive change is available.

I really do wish you good luck and best wishes.

[Jereck]

Thanks, Don
So what you are saying is that it can be mainly treated in 3 - 6 sessions. When you say change behaviour patterns how do you mean, do you mean just changing to another pattern of obsessions such as hand washing.

Apologies if you seem to be repeating yourself Don but as hypotherapy and nlp seem to be very expensive, i am trying to find out as much information about it as possible. So, I have 1 more question for you, I regually do an obsession without finishing it because I do not want it to develop into other obsessions and other obsession which I havent done in the past, these seem to bother me on a daily basis, so does this mean that these will no longer bother me and I will no longer have the urge to do the obsession.

Also, thanks poodle and jim r for your suggestions.

Thanks,
Jereck.

[Don]

No apologies need, Jereck. Those are great questions.

I wouldn't use the term "treated." Hypnotherapists don't "treat" anyone. They simply work with others to help them achieve their goals.

When I say "change behavior patterns," I definitely don't mean from one unwanted pattern to another unwanted pattern. Rather, it would be changing from an unwanted pattern to a desired pattern. For example, in many cases, people who have trouble sleeping do so because they keep running patterns with unknowable outcomes over and over in their minds. I would work with them to allow themselves to deal with tomorrow's issues tomorrow and simply let my client relax with the satisfaction of meeting today's challenges to the best of their ability. Thus, I help a person change from one unwanted behavior pattern to a desired set of behaviors.

[Disclaimer: the above is a generalization and may not apply to any specific individual. It is not intended as a guide for a script for any particular session.]

Changing behaviors can be challenging. That's why I didn't say it could be "treated in 3-6 sessions." However, you should see a significant change within 3-6 sessions

I don't want to use the term "obsession," because that is a medical term and I'm not a doctor. Let me try to explain it this way:

Have you ever said, "part of me wants to go out and have fun, but part of me needs to finish my assignments?" It's almost as if we are at war with ourselves over a variety of issues.

All of those aspects of ourself (some of them we are consciously unaware of--they are unconscious) do the best they can with the information they have to help us survive and thrive. But they can get fixated. "I did this once to help the body, so I'll continue doing it." This may be true even when the actual behavior is no longer beneficial.

So the problem is, how do you communicate with that unconscious part of yourself to let it know that the particular behavior is no longer needed? We are not trained how to do that in school. Even psychologists and psychiatrists aren't usually trained in how to do this. However, hypnotherapists and NLP practitioners are trained in the techniques.

So rather than "treat the obsession," we help a person's unconscious change from doing something that is unwanted to doing things that are wanted. In the example I gave above, the part that was engaged in thinking useless, repetitive thoughts, changed to being satisfied with the day and allowing the person to sleep.

Obviously, I can't promise you anything any more than a psychologist or psychiatrist can. I also don't know the experience and training of the hypnotherapist or NLP practitioner you will choose. Part of the reason I say "3-6 sessions" is because even when you're not in a session, your mind will continue to evolve and change, and your behavior patters will continue to alter away from what you don't want and toward what you do want.

Now, I don't know what new behaviors you will want to have. That's something you will need to think about and discuss with the person you work with. But you should see changes in your behavior occur surprisingly quickly. You will still have urges, but they will be urges to do the things you want, not the things you don't want.

By the way--and this is important--don't just take my word for it! Talk to your hypnotherapist or NLP practitioner. Tell him or her that you don't want to simply replace one "obsession" with another. Ask what they can do and what they will do. Keep asking questions until you are completely comfortable with the person and their response.

And be sure to let us know who well it works for you!

[Jereck]

Thanks once again Don, are there any websites you know of which go into more detail on this subject.

Also I dint write down that last question very well, what I meant was that when i do a ritual and i do not completely finish the ritual it creates terrible anxiety and i feel I need to finish the ritual. Now I have only does this a handfull of times but will hypnotherapy make me no longer want to do these unfished rituals.

Thanks,
Jereck.

[Terry (existing)]

jereck, you are asking highly skilled and ethical people to diagnose your problems from a distance, while what you describe could indeed be a serious problem that requires fast action, not directing you to more self help web sites, while you waste time. This is dangerous for you, and unfair to those who would like to help, but not as you seem to think, via self help methods in which you have little or no skills.

[Jereck]

jereck, you are asking highly skilled and ethical people to diagnose your problems from a distance, while what you describe could indeed be a serious problem that requires fast action, not directing you to more self help web sites, while you waste time. This is dangerous for you, and unfair to those who would like to help, but not as you seem to think, via self help methods in which you have little or no skills.

I was not asking for self help websites, but websites which go into more details of which was said earlier on in the topic about how behaviours can be changed using hypnosis.

[Don]

Jereck, there are dozens or hundreds of websites that give information on hypnotherapy. Just do a web search.

Concerning finishing rituals: why not just go back and finish the ritual?