Hypnotically induced dissociation (HID) as a strategic intervention for enhancing OCD treatment

To date, cognitive behavioral therapy has been designated the most efficient evidence-based psychotherapeutic approach for OCD management. This is mainly due to its ability to effectively address the constitutional and developmentally acquired emotional and cognitive deficiencies of OCD, which express themselves through behavioral compulsions and intrusive thoughts. Yet some reports indicate that from 30 to 60 percent of OCD patients are not responsive to psychotherapeutic interventions. As a consequence, broader therapeutic models have been considered. These models encompass multifactorial etiologies of OCD and take intrapsychic stressogenic factors into consideration as well. Some of these models have adopted hypnotherapeutic approaches. In the present article, we introduce a therapeutic tool that utilizes hypnotically induced dissociation (HID) to identify and address the intrapsychic etiology of OCD. The result is a therapeutic intervention that complements existing OCD treatment strategies. Clinical cases are presented to illustrate implementation of the approach.