Hypnotherapy in the Treatment of Eating Disorders and Obesity

December 16th, 2009 by DR DAVID KRAFT

London Hypnotherapy UK is committed to treating individuals who have eating disorders.

According to DSM IV, eating disturbances are divided into two categories: Anorexia Nervosa (AN) and Bulimia Nervosa (BN).

Anorexics refuse to eat and are unable to maintain a minimal body weight: often clients with this disorder have a distorted body image. Female patients with anorexia often also suffer from amenorrhoea; they present with a childlike appearance and often have suncken eyes and a drawn-in face. Anorexia Nervosa is subdivided into two main groups:

Restricting Type: weight loss due to constant dieting and/or excessive exercise

Binge Eating/Purging Type: weight loss due to a bingeing and purging cycle (self-induced vomiting); inappropriate use of laxatives.

Bulimics suffer from binge eating and purging. Again, individuals suffer from an obsessive preoccupation with body weight and body size. Bulimia is also divided into two groups:

Purging SubType: bingeing followed by self-induced vomiting, misuse of laxatives, diuretics and/or enemas

Non-Purging SubType: binge eating and fasting and/or excessive exercise

Anorexia Nervosa

The main feature in the aetiology of anorexia is that the client is caught up in a complex and highly disturbed family infrastructure; (s)he displays both obsessional and highly perfectionist features and this is a product of the family's psychopathology. Anorexics have internal hostilities and this manifests itself in the restriction of food; essentially, in many cases, anorexics are punishing both themselves and their parents for hostilities of the past. Often, anorexics are perfectionists. This striving for perfectionism pervades the whole of their lives including the home and work environments; individuals often have an encyclopaedic knowledge of calorie values and the precise constitution of food stuffs. In order to prevent any weight gain, individuals will go to any length to hide food or lie about the quantity of food they have consumed. Some individuals also exercise religiously.

Patients with anorexia can suffer from a number of physical complications.

Some patients suffer from some of many of the following:

bradycardia, hypophosphataemia and delirium, amenorrhoea, permanent osteoporosis, stunted growth, hypothermia, zinc deficiency, dry skin, chapped lips, skin pallor and sunken eyes

Hypnotherapy is an extremely powerful tool in the treatment of anorexia.

Bulimia Nervosa

The essential component of bulimia nervosa involves binge eating accompanied by some form of purging behaviour-intentional vomiting, use of laxatives, diuretics and enemas.

Patients suffering for bulimia nervosa frequently experience medical complications to a greater or lesser degree depending on the severity of the condition. Individuals suffering from bulimia can experience some or many of the following:

electrolyte disturbance (esp. hypokalaemia), cardiac arrhythmias, dental carries, lacerations in the mouth, gastric reflux and oesophagitis, swelling of the salivary glands, schlera haemorrhaging, chronic dehydration, calcium deficiency causing loss of bone density

Many researchers have established a high correlation between bulimia nervosa and hypnotizability. Hypnotherapy is an extremely valuable tool in the treatment of eating disorders, a treatment approach which does not require any form of medication. The combination of a behavioural and a psychodynamic approach now comes under the heading of integrative psychotherapy which is a fast evolving treatment approach (Kraft & Kraft, 2007). Hypnotherapy offers a rapid and cost effective form of treatment for eating disorders, and it is recommended that these procedures are used on their own or in combination.

Obesity

Obesity, according to DSM, is not an eating disorder; however, it is widely known that hypnotherapy is a very powerful tool in helping people to take off weight. Dr Kraft has had a great deal of success in helping people to take off weight. This success rate is monitored at the follow up. In 87% of cases, during 2009, individuals had maintained their body weight within +/- 5 pounds of their target weight.