Hello there. I'm Peter Back.

I’m a hypnotherapist and psychoanalyst in private practice here at the Surrey Hypnotherapy clinic, in the Woking and Guildford area of Surrey, just outside London, UK.
 

HOCD stands for Homosexual Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and is a term that is used to describe having unwanted intrusive thoughts in relation to your sexual preference.
 

HOCD is a very misunderstood and difficult problem. It can ruin lives. Doctors don't seem to understand. And very often the help that they offer is limited to medication, often anti-depressants.

HOCD is:

My clients with HOCD are very often nearing their 'wits end', such that the first thing that they think of when they wake most mornings is “I think I must be gay, or turning gay!” – and they experience anxiety as they doubt themselves and fear how, by turning gay, they will ruin the life of their partner who they love and adore.

They will avoid:

• Looking at people of the same sex, in case they are attracted to them.
• Looking at people of the opposiite sex in case they are NOT attracted to them.

And almost every client will say at some point during their consultation the phrase “I’ve really got nothing against gay people. If they want to be gay that is up to them, I’m happy with that – but it’s not for me, I’m straight and I keep getting these very worrying thoughts that I might be gay – and these thoughts are ruining my life”.

People with HOCD tend to question absolutely everything. e.g.

• Their HOCD and anxiety state is such that they question everything about themselves and their life:
• They question their sexuality.
• They question whether the way they feel should be correctly labelled as being ‘HOCD’.
• They question whether they have too many, or not enough, of the symptoms of 'HOCD'.
• Young women question whether their problem will be resolved before they are past child bearing age.
• They think that they are the only person in the world has ever had their symptoms and felt as bad as they do.
• They doubt whether it is even possible for anyone to recover from feeling as bad, mixed-up and confused, as they do.
• They doubt whether I will be able to help them with my therapy.
• They cannot think straight because this anxiety is always there in their thoughts, and just won’t go away.
• They question whether they are doing the therapy correctly, or should do it differently.
• They can take extended sick leave or leave their jobs/career because they are no longer able to function and cope with the intensity of their HOCD situation.

Doctors and psychiatrists prescribe drugs, sedatives and tranquilisers to try and ‘calm down’ their anxiety, but of course drugs cannot really help. Medication cannot actually change the thoughts that someone is having or the anxiety they experience as a result.

The best that medication can do is to ‘calm down’ the anxiety such that, to some extent, they are tranquilised, or anaesthetised from its effects. And of course, some people resort to self-medication and drugs – such as using alcohol, in an attempt to drink their sorrows away.

HOCD is something that cannot be simply ‘laughed off’, in the way that some other forms of OCD might be.

HOCD is serious, and many extreme HOCD sufferers admit to having had suicidal thoughts as a result of their HOCD.

The one thing that every HOCD client really wants is hope. Hope that their HOCD is ‘a thing’; that HOCD does exist; and that there is a treatment available for HOCD that might get rid of it for them so they can live their lives in peace; and that other sufferers with HOCD have had that treatment, and that the treatment has, at least, worked for them.

So for these reasons I have included here a 'case study' comprising just three emails:

• An initial contact email from the client, 'Christine', giving an indication of how she felt:
• An email that just turned up in my inbox from her very grateful mother about 10 weeks after the client had completed her therapy.
• A testimonial provided by the client herself upon learning that her mother had contacted me to express her thanks, as a mother.

My hope is that the three emails in this 'case study' will provide some level of reassurance to those people suffering with HOCD that HOCD can be cured, and that if my therapy has been effective for this client it is very likely that my therapy will be equally as effective for any and every HOCD sufferer reading this web page (although, of course, results cannot be guaranteed).

(Note. The client's name has been changed, to 'Christine', to protect the client's anonymity.)

HOCD, or SO-OCD, is a very misunderstood and difficult problem. It can ruin lives. Doctors don't seem to understand. And very often the help that they offer is limited to medication, often anti-depressants.

But if you are suffering from HOCD (SO-OCD), you are not suffering from depression. (Although, at times, you may feel quite depressed due to your problem !) 

Many people suffering from HOCD (SO-OCD) are afraid or embarrassed to even talk about their problem, for fear of being ridiculed or labelled. And so the biggest problem in getting help with HOCD (SO-OCD), is finding someone who actually understands the situation. Because most of the people offering treatment for HOCD don't actually know what it is, their solutions often fail and at best give you a means of living with your problem forever.

The good news is, that HOCD / SO-OCD can be completely cured !

The first thing to realise is that Obsession and Compulsion are psychologically very different things and depend on your natural personality type. Without making this differentiation and knowing which you are suffering from, you cannot even begin to treat it.

At the root of both disorders is always some lost fear or thought, which is so deeply buried in the back of your mind that you have forgotten about it. But it is still having an effect on your feelings and behaviour. And in the case of HOCD (SO-OCD) this fear starts to focus on doubts about your sexuality.

These thoughts and ideas can be identified, and reversed where necessary, using specialised therapy in combination with Hypnosis.

I specialise in getting to the root causes of HOCD (SO-OCD), removing them and thus removing the feelings which drive obsessive thinking and compulsive behaviour. This REMOVES the problem so that there is no further need for medication or any other coping mechanisms such as exercises, thought control, special routines, CBT or any other procedures.

I am very experienced in dealing with SO-OCD / HOCD. (It is more common than you would think!) There will be no labelling or judgement. I have heard it ALL before and understand the symptoms and the suffering.
 

YOUR NEXT STEP...

Either:

Contact Peter to make an appointment for therapy or a free initial consultation.

or

Read Peter's website welcome letter.

or

Return and find out more about HOCD and its treatment.

or

Return and find out more about Sexual Orientation OCD and its treatment