Just wondering does hypnotherapy actually work for weight-loss?

Dr Frank
#1. October 1st, 2009, at 3:51 AM.

I am afraid it is no more effective than any placebo.

Do you see the box near the top of the page?
The one labelled ‘Search for questions: ‘?
Well type in ‘lose weight’.
You will find over 20,000 preexisting questions.
Try the misspellings ‘loose weight’ and there are another 5,500.
In all there are over 60,000 Health section questions requesting solutions to being or thinking you might be overweight.
On average these each yield 6 answers, that is over 360,000 answers.

I can usefully summarise these answers in 4 words:

EAT LESS DO MORE. Are you desperate enough to try this??
References :
GP for more years than I care to remember

honestgirl
#2. October 1st, 2009, at 4:33 AM.

Ive not tried it but ive heard the latest hypnotherapy is to convince you when you are under, that you have a gastric band fitted inside you. apparently you then eat small portions as if you had had the operation and it works! i dont have a reliable source for this but its whats on the grapevine where i live and its being offered at several clinics here too.

Ive tried to go for hypnotherapy but no one will do it on me as i am on medication for mental health issues.
References :

Jack the Tripper
#3. October 1st, 2009, at 5:16 AM.

As a trained hypnotherapist I can tell you that it will not work. I can recommend Allen Carr’s Easyweigh to Lose Weight published by Penguin Books. I used it and the weight literally fell off me.
References :
Hypnotherapist

Tesco – very little help
#4. October 1st, 2009, at 5:54 AM.

You could always consider acupuncture in order to curb your appetite.

I’ve just had two sessions in order to stop smoking and I’ve had no cravings whatsoever. It’s not simply due to the placebo effect either because my cigarette cravings were very strong prior to the acupuncture.

You could always consider this instead of hypnotherapy.

Also, try white tea (I don’t mean ordinary tea with milk, but white tea as opposed to green tea), cinnamon, green tea, fennel tea and plenty of water to curb your appetite.

Try to cut out sugar from your diet – this will stop you from craving it.

Take more exercise.
References :

The Catalyst
#5. October 1st, 2009, at 6:27 AM.

Hi Cartoon Kitty,

In a word – yes.

I’m an analytical hypnotherapist and I’ve worked with scores of people wanting to lose weight – and as a rough estimate, around 80% achieved this through the work we do together.

Dr Franks apparently negative response to hypnotherapy is typical amongst the ‘old school’ doctors who have either never studied it, or who have tried it and not been much good at it (like Freud – initially).

Around 30% or my learned colleagues are qualified doctors, many are doctors of psychiatry who now use hypnotherapy first as it is fast and effective. Such hypnotherapy greats as Dr Milton Erickson spent much time training doctors – and opinions are slowly changing in the medical world.

However – Dr Franks is absolutely right in his reference to placebo. What is placebo, but mind over matter? Your unconscious mind (accessed in hypnosis) controls over 80% of your autonomic body functions, so hypnosis can indeed work in the same way as a placebo – just at a deeper level.

For myself, I specialise in analytical hypnotherapy – I look for the source of problems.
One case involved a lady who was bullied as a child by an overweight bully. Her unconscious then made her overweight as a misguided form of protection. In hypnotic regression, we revisited the originating incident and reframed it – and she achieved her goal of getting into her pre-ordered and deliberately small wedding dress 4 months later.

Dr Franks quite correctly says that it is simply a matter of eating less and/or exercising more – but the unconscious mind controls the urge to eat and the desire to exercise – as well the overall metabolism – so hypnotherapy does work.

I respectfully suggest that all doubters read about the life and work of Dr Milton Erickson, and also read The Biology of Belief by Dr Bruce Lipton.

So I suggest hunting out a local experienced and insured analytical hypnotherapist.

Hope this helps…
References :
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Biology-Belief-Unleashing-Consciousness-Miracles/dp/1401923119/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252241466&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Uncommon-Therapy-Psychiatric-Techniques-H-Erickson/dp/0393310310/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252241990&sr=1-3