Melissa Cipriani no longer had any explanation as to why she couldn’t lose weight.
She avoided processed foods, “white” carbohydrates and sodas. She took SoulCycle classes religiously. And she certainly had the discipline: she had already lost – and kept for years – 50 pounds thanks to a medically supervised hCG diet, which involves eating less than 800 calories per day and receiving injections of a hormone marketed for. suppress appetite.
And yet the last 20 or 30 pounds just wouldn’t go away. There was only one possibility left: “I knew it had everything to do with my thoughts,” said Cipriani, CEO of a 38-year-old resort who divides his time between Denver and Granby, Colo.
So Cipriani booked a session with a local hypnotherapist, whom she had heard about through a Facebook friend and with whom she had connected by phone. “We didn’t talk about food, we didn’t talk about diet or calories consumed versus calories consumed… it looked more like a change in mindset,” recalls Cipriani, who lived in New York. York at the time, from his first session. .
Specifically, during some sessions, Cipriani was guided into a state of deep relaxation. There, she was encouraged to discover and confront some of the mental and emotional barriers, such as over-thinking and over-seeking food choices that had kept her from achieving her goals. She then incorporated phrases such as “I lose weight easily and effortlessly” into her psyche. Six months later, she had lost at least 10 pounds.
“Once I broke through the ‘overthinking’ barrier and just accepted that I was losing weight easily and effortlessly, it just happened – I knew the choices I made were the right choices for me. “says Cipriani, who focused on consuming whole foods like lean protein, healthy fats, and whole grains, and worked with a personal trainer. She eventually lost the rest of the weight and kept at it. day, about four years later.
Cipriani also credits hypnotherapy, which she continues to use in various forms, including applications and self-hypnosis, for allowing her to meet her husband and deal with stress at work. “I really believe of course [in hypnotherapy] … I have a fuller life because of this, ”says Cipriani.
Despite the lingering misperceptions, hypnosis actually looks and acts much more like mindfulness meditation or cognitive behavioral therapy than mind control or a magic show. Like meditation, it involves entering a very relaxed and focused state; like CBT, it involves noticing and questioning negative thought patterns.
“It’s not like you’re going to be hypnotized and you don’t know who you are and someone is forcing you to do something,” says Eric Spiegel, a clinical psychologist in the greater Philadelphia area who is president of the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis. “I’m going to give you ideas and choices and let you lead the way, but I’m going to kind of help you find the way.”
But a key characteristic that can make hypnosis work faster and more powerfully than more widely accepted practices is also what keeps it somewhat shrouded in mystery: It works at the subconscious level, and researchers aren’t sure exactly how, says David Godot, a clinical psychologist in Long Beach, Calif., Who is secretary of the Society of Psychological Hypnosis, a division of the American Psychological Association.
“With hypnosis, you enter a particular state of mind where there is a closeness between the content of conscious and unconscious consciousness,” he explains. When you are there, your conscious mind or practitioner can offer suggestions to your subconscious. For example, Grace Smith, hypnotherapist at Cipriani in Vero Beach, Fla., May ask clients looking to break unhealthy eating habits to repeat, “Food is fuel. I only put the highest quality foods in my body. Occasionally, she also uses “aversion therapy” to create a negative association with a food or drink that has a deeply rooted positive association – cupcakes that were once linked to comfort are now linked to disgust.
The idea is that by transmitting these thoughts to your subconscious, you can change deeply ingrained behaviors without as much conscious effort, just as you can wake up from a dream with a solution to a complicated problem, or experience a moment. bulb as you walk away in the shower. “There’s that creative part of your mind that’s working all the time when you’re not aware of anything else,” Godot says. Through hypnosis, he adds, “this creative process can be directed to work on this particular problem.”
Proceed with cautious optimism
There is research on hypnosis for weight loss, and the results are moderately promising. One 2005 review in the International Journal of Obesity found that, taken together, the strongest studies on hypnosis for weight loss have shown that hypnotherapy results in greater weight loss than cognitive behavioral therapy or counseling dietetic alone. Another 2009 to study concluded that hypnosis is one of only three evidence-based complementary treatments for obesity, but that if used, it should be used alongside proven calorie restriction and exercise. As the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis says, hypnosis “is very beneficial for some patients with problems, and it is useful for many other patients, but it can fail like any other clinical method.”
Whether it works for you may depend on your personality and your suitability with a vendor, among other individual characteristics. Specifically, some people are highly “hypnotizable” (if you are easily lost in thought or are prone to art, you may be one of them), and some people are particularly vulnerable to hypnosis suggestion. (including people deemed “gullible” in conscious living), explains Spiegel. The higher you are on these traits, the faster and more effectively hypnosis will likely work, although people below the scales can benefit as well.
You also have to really want a particular outcome for hypnosis to work, Smith says. For example, if you say you want to give up your ice cream habit at night but love the taste of it and find the ritual soothing, you won’t be as lucky as someone who hates feeling pressured to. eat ice cream every night – even if he’s not enjoying it anymore. “You need a goal [because] how much you want the outcome to be the # 1 thing that will dictate the results you get, “says Smith, author of the new book” Close Your Eyes, Get Free, “which aims to generalize hypnosis by teaching people how to do to themselves.
Even if you have a natural affinity for hypnosis and a real goal, finding a suitably trained therapist who is right for you can be complicated as there is no single certifying body, licensing rules differ ( where they exist) and hypnotherapists can include regular doctors, nurses, dentists, social workers, psychologists and Joes. “All the time, I see people saying things like, ‘I’m a certified hypnotherapist,’” says Spiegel. “The question is, ‘OK, what are you certified in, what is your professional qualification and do you have a license? “”
Asking these questions – in addition to assessing your rapport with the potential therapist and learning about the hours they have spent in training and in practice – is important because hypnotherapy can reveal traumatic experiences that have been forgotten. Under the care of an unprepared provider, this experience can again be traumatic rather than stimulating. Godot’s rule for hypnotherapists? “Don’t use hypnosis to treat anything that you wouldn’t be qualified to treat otherwise,” he says.
Good training is also important because hypnosis isn’t just about reading a script, it’s about learning how language, rhythm, and tone of voice lead to the desired outcome, says Spiegel. Hypnotic suggestions or affirmations should be positive – “I choose healthy portions” rather than “I don’t eat too much” – because the subconscious does not hear the negative and instead reinforces “I eat too much”, says Smith, who does not. is not a health professional but who has been certified by several organizations including the International Hypnosis Federation before launching his own hypnosis training school.
Finally, the therapist’s philosophy is important since professionals differ, for example, on whether it is harmful or hurtful to instill the belief that food is “good” or “bad”. While Smith finds that these types of mantras help break associations that are no longer useful, other hypnotherapists like those at NY Health Hypnosis and Integrative Therapy in Manhattan are doing the opposite for people trying to lose weight or get over it. eating disorders. “The goal is not only to end addiction, but also to stop viewing food in terms of good and bad so that a person breaks out of the cycle of excess and self-blame. “, explain the therapists. to say on their website. Here, too, it is important to know what resonates with you.
All of the caveats in mind, medical professionals say hypnosis can be powerful for lifelong behavior change and is no more risky than meditation or yoga. “Hypnosis is not a magical practice to be feared,” says Godot. “It’s just a set of techniques and tools to come closer to understanding … what’s going on in the mind.”
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