Eating Disorders: Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia, Binge Eating
"After the first session, I felt amazing – on top of the world!
I (now) feel totally different about myself, about food in general and my value as a person.
...I am nicer to be around, I am relaxed about food and don’t have the need to lose
a certain amount of weight by a particular date.
I really feel that I have learned how to live again and it is totally down to Margaret."
I (now) feel totally different about myself, about food in general and my value as a person.
...I am nicer to be around, I am relaxed about food and don’t have the need to lose
a certain amount of weight by a particular date.
I really feel that I have learned how to live again and it is totally down to Margaret."
Anorexia Nervosa
Anorexia is often explained in the media as trying to imitate models and that thin is equated with being beautiful. However, many people suffering from anorexia do not relate to this explanation at all because anorexia can have many different roots, such as low self-esteem, a feeling of lack of control and lack of real choices in life. It may be based on fear of dealing with the challenges of responsibility or can come from family problems or relationship difficulties.
So, we can understand anorexia as an attempt to solve apparently insoluble difficulties, as a way to get a sense of control when feeling anxious and uncertain. However, the trap of anorexia is that the attempted 'solution' of restricted eating results in a dramatic loss of control, because the anorexia starts controlling the person and dictating every part of their life.
How can hypnotherapy help?
Whilst hypnosis is not a replacement for medical or psychological treatment, it can be used safely alongside to help the person see through the trap they're in and how to make changes in thinking and emotions to help them come out of it.
People do manage to come out of anorexia, to regain control over their health and the ability to live fulfilling and secure lives. Hypnotherapy is about making instinctive changes inside to help people do just that.
Bulimia
Bulimia steals energy, time and health, as well as possibly dignity and self-respect, and the ability to enjoy food naturally and normally. Continual vomiting erodes enamel from the teeth, can damage structures in the throat and impair the lining of the stomach. Additionally, over-use of laxatives will steal long term health dramatically.
If your health has in any way been detrimentally affected because of bulimia then you must consult a medically trained professional immediately.
There may be many different reasons for bulimia. The bulimic pattern could be learnt from people around you or perhaps you have issues with perfectionism, body image or self-esteem.
How can hypnotherapy help?
An episode of bulimia is very much like a hypnotic trance state. At the onset there is a tranced out feeling where everything else seems to fade into the background as you forget time passing, or outside thoughts and ideas, and just pile into the particular food you are bingeing on.
Using hypnosis can help unhook you from some of those trigger points: stress, feelings of insecurity, boredom, disappointment, being home alone.
Overcoming bulimia can help normalise the tyranny of perfectionism, modify obsessive distortions around body image and raise self-esteem - because you've taken back control.
Binge Eating
Bingeing is any period of unnecessary eating, which means when you are not hungry, or eating past the point of satisfaction, or over-eating when food is still going to be readily available later on. Binge eating may follow a period of attempted slimming (which is why starvation diets don't work.)
You may binge in secret and you may plan to binge. And, if there is any enjoyment at all to be had from the food, it happens in the first few mouthfuls. After that, it tends to become automatic and mechanical. Bingeing tends to be carried out very quickly because fullness signals don't get the chance to tell your brain you've had enough. When people binge they are in a trance state, where nothing else matters.
How can hypnotherapy help?
During hypnosis you can learn to keep out of that binge trance state and really begin to win back your independence.
Anorexia is often explained in the media as trying to imitate models and that thin is equated with being beautiful. However, many people suffering from anorexia do not relate to this explanation at all because anorexia can have many different roots, such as low self-esteem, a feeling of lack of control and lack of real choices in life. It may be based on fear of dealing with the challenges of responsibility or can come from family problems or relationship difficulties.
So, we can understand anorexia as an attempt to solve apparently insoluble difficulties, as a way to get a sense of control when feeling anxious and uncertain. However, the trap of anorexia is that the attempted 'solution' of restricted eating results in a dramatic loss of control, because the anorexia starts controlling the person and dictating every part of their life.
How can hypnotherapy help?
Whilst hypnosis is not a replacement for medical or psychological treatment, it can be used safely alongside to help the person see through the trap they're in and how to make changes in thinking and emotions to help them come out of it.
People do manage to come out of anorexia, to regain control over their health and the ability to live fulfilling and secure lives. Hypnotherapy is about making instinctive changes inside to help people do just that.
Bulimia
Bulimia steals energy, time and health, as well as possibly dignity and self-respect, and the ability to enjoy food naturally and normally. Continual vomiting erodes enamel from the teeth, can damage structures in the throat and impair the lining of the stomach. Additionally, over-use of laxatives will steal long term health dramatically.
If your health has in any way been detrimentally affected because of bulimia then you must consult a medically trained professional immediately.
There may be many different reasons for bulimia. The bulimic pattern could be learnt from people around you or perhaps you have issues with perfectionism, body image or self-esteem.
How can hypnotherapy help?
An episode of bulimia is very much like a hypnotic trance state. At the onset there is a tranced out feeling where everything else seems to fade into the background as you forget time passing, or outside thoughts and ideas, and just pile into the particular food you are bingeing on.
Using hypnosis can help unhook you from some of those trigger points: stress, feelings of insecurity, boredom, disappointment, being home alone.
Overcoming bulimia can help normalise the tyranny of perfectionism, modify obsessive distortions around body image and raise self-esteem - because you've taken back control.
Binge Eating
Bingeing is any period of unnecessary eating, which means when you are not hungry, or eating past the point of satisfaction, or over-eating when food is still going to be readily available later on. Binge eating may follow a period of attempted slimming (which is why starvation diets don't work.)
You may binge in secret and you may plan to binge. And, if there is any enjoyment at all to be had from the food, it happens in the first few mouthfuls. After that, it tends to become automatic and mechanical. Bingeing tends to be carried out very quickly because fullness signals don't get the chance to tell your brain you've had enough. When people binge they are in a trance state, where nothing else matters.
How can hypnotherapy help?
During hypnosis you can learn to keep out of that binge trance state and really begin to win back your independence.
Photo used under Creative Commons from regan76
