Hand Washing Compulsion Disappears in Less Than an Hour

"Linda" worked in the sales department of a local advertiser. She said that she washed her hands all the time, and that it was annoying for her. She would wash her hands at least fifty times a day, and she wanted to let go of that behavior. We determined that washing her hands was a level of intensity of 7 out of 10 for her in terms of it being a compulsion. For her Emotional Freedom Techniques protocol we started with:

"Even though I am compulsive about washing my hands…"

"Even though I wash my hands more than I need to…"

Then she mentioned that the doorknob entering the building was disgusting to her and when she enters this building (we were at her job site) she always had to wash her hands. So, we tapped for that but her level of intensity didn't go down. Linda told me that she had been battling with cancer and that was when she acquired the behavior of frequently washing her hands. We added:

"Even though I have been washing my hands because I don't want my cancer to get worse…"

Then I asked her to go out to the front door and look at the disgusting doorknob to see what her anxiety level was. She was surprised to see that her anxiety level had dropped to a 4 out of 10. Then we added:

"Even though I'm tired of washing my hands so much…"

"Even though I have been washing my hands to make my cancer go away…"

I asked her to go back to the front door to see how she felt about touching the doorknob. Her anxiety level had dropped to 2 out of 10. I asked her if she'd like to get it to a zero and she enthusiastically said "yes!" We continued by alternating the following statements:

"Even though I still have some anxiety about washing my hands…"

"I now have a healthy attitude about washing my hands…"

I asked her to go back and look at the disgusting doorknob again and see how see felt. She didn't hesitate about opening the door. Her level of intensity had dropped to a zero! She also commented on how energetic she felt.