I received a request about my autistic client, from his mother, who asked us to do a session for him about his need to touch something, but with a different perspective in light of his recent ramp-up in “OCD behavior” from exposure to the man she hired to be a helper and look after him. Somehow, his preoccupation with moving things to touch a target object became intensified. Can you help us in how to request his deep subconscious to focus on what will get to the core of this issue to resolve his need for this ritual?

We understand the peculiar nature of this better than you do, as you are not privy to how his mind works in trying to make sense of the world around him. This stems back to the fact he is suspended in time and space with nothing to anchor it. He does not understand his own existence or all the things around him he has experienced. It is all puzzling and somewhat peculiar. Not having language for so many years, he was not even able to absorb meanings in hearing conversations within the family about ordinary matters. So this is no different than someone who is young but knows a language, being thrust into another family entirely, who speak a foreign tongue, and then being oblivious to all that is going on. The basic problem here is that he has associated his presence and ability to touch the physical environment with somehow it having a deeper meaning in holding it together. This is an extension of his inner fears because of his mind showing so much fantastic imagery due to his synesthesia. Because of this, he is literally attempting to learn through physical touch, the meaning of things. His dilemma in having a mental response to physical stimulation has been a substitute for language all along. So this ritual behavior is not truly OCD, it is him wanting to learn and grow in at least one way he thinks he knows how, which is to touch things. And in drawing parallels between things, he might feel compelled to touch each thing involved with a train of thought, or an association within his mind that has meaning and substance. So his touching something of his sister’s is an attempt to borrow what he sees her doing and wanting in a way to mimic that behavior. It might be a false assumption of an association or it might be a creative intention to experiment and see what happens, in a sense, to bring those objects to life with a deeper understanding that will add somehow to a greater sense of meaning to help him be less isolated. This, of course, he cannot articulate with such precision within his own thoughts, not having been taught language. But the basic impulse here you can relate to from your own experience. So the issue is more complex and more deeply entrenched than you might think, in terms of this being a meaningless ritual as done by those with OCD which serves no purpose, although the compulsion to repeat an act is accompanied by a strong feeling it is essential. In the case of this individual, it is a misguided attempt to establish meaning and a deeper understanding of the interrelationships between things in the physical environment, with him as a thinking, feeling, person. So there may well be ritualistic actions taken, but to him these are essentially a kind of conversation, whether he is thinking to himself or wanting to display something for an observer in an attempt to draw them into a conversation, not realizing this will be quite futile because no one will understand him but himself, about the actual intention underlying his actions. This will likely continue to be a challenge because it has become ingrained and is not inherently a bad thing, just an unfortunate misapplication of his efforts, not fully understanding what would better serve him. The best way to help him engage with life is to make a game of some useful action or activity that can be demonstrated for him, and then with encouragement for him to mimic the same process and give him encouragement and rewards when he picks up on the recommendation and begins to act on it himself. What we are describing is a painstaking catalog of becoming acquainted with cause and effect in a number of differing settings. In this way, he can be reasoned with and begin to see what things he might do physically that his caregivers ignore or actively discourage as being not useful and the reason for not receiving support and encouragement, compared to those things that have a payoff and would benefit him to be doing, if only as a shared activity or a kind of game for a time at least to get this process of teaching formalized and done in a concerted way. For purposes of the deep subconscious channeling with trauma resolution as an underpinning, what could help therapeutically is to work on the issue of touching things and needing to move them when there is a mutual purpose and a shared recognition by a caregiver. So the idea of him doing this independently and accepting criticism and corrections from the family members and being willing to stop what he is doing is a worthwhile behavioral goal. So what we are suggesting is to work on underlying resistance to being corrected and tutored in ways that he will not yet understand the purpose for, and may be reluctant to cooperate if he feels put upon. So this will key into prior events when others were wanting him to learn and perhaps forcing outcomes on him in ways that he could not understand at the time and were, moreover, not only stressful but painful in a way because of the excess stimulation from the experience to make his mind explode with imagery that was confusing and overwhelming at times. The goal here would be to begin learning and conforming to an awareness of what is acceptable behavior and what is less so, as this will be a basic benefit across the board from here on out in his life, with whomever he is around, in whatever setting.