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Hypnosis For Weight Loss 2024: How It Works & Is It Effective?
Updated on
- Written by Sevginur Akdas, RD
Medically reviewed by
Kathy Shattler, MS, RDN
Beyond simple hunger and satiety, the prime mechanisms[1] underlying weight gain, eating disorders, and obesity are a vicious circle. It results from a Western-style diet with excessive eating stimulation and defective inhibitory cues related to unhealthy eating patterns.
With recent developments, psychobehavioral factors have come to the forefront among other weight loss strategies. New approaches, such as clinical hypnosis,[2] benefit your losing weight and fat-burning efforts.
Clinical hypnosis can be defined as behavioral therapy in which the expert therapist proposes changes in the patient’s sensations, perceptions, and thoughts. It is crucial that the person who leads hypnotic treatment is an expert in psychology and has the necessary competency training.
So, how does hypnosis help people lose weight?
Does Hypnosis Work For Weight Loss?
A 2018 meta-analytic review[3] indicates that people with high body mass index may benefit from hypnosis alone or in combination with other psychotherapy strategies, such as cognitive behavioral therapy. Comparing hypnosis with a control condition showed that the hypnosis group lost more weight than the controls.
Also, when hypnosis use was combined with cognitive behavioral therapy, it showed that 79% of those receiving blended therapy lost more weight than with CBT therapy alone, suggesting that hypnosis may be a viable addition to other forms of therapy.
Also, comprehensive meta-analyses[4] on this subject show how effective hypnosis for weight loss is.
These results showed that hypnosis is very effective in promoting weight loss, but more studies are needed on the long-term benefits of up to one to five years.
Research On Hypnosis For Weight Loss
For many years, there was a negative perception of hypnosis in society. With hypnosis, people think that they will act involuntarily and that they can be unlimitedly controlled by the practitioner. Actually, hypnosis is not such a “controlling” practice. Yes, it includes some instructions from the hypnotist, but these suggestions don’t make you a robot to follow commands.
But recently, this prejudice has been altered by updated clinical practices and recent studies on self-hypnosis and meditation.
Psychological causes may lead to weight gain by triggering eating disorders and weight gain can trigger psychological problems such as body image disorder and depression, which is a vicious circle. The Three Factor Eating Questionnaire[5] assesses disinhibition, which expresses uncontrolled binge eating in response to cognitive or emotional signals. Researchers stated that disinhibition has a strong relationship[6] with obesity.
In a most recent randomized controlled trial in 2022,[2] hypnosis seems to reduce disinhibition in obese patients and positively affect body weight and composition. Additionally, the hypnosis group achieved weight loss, reduced sensitivity to hunger, and better controlled environmental hunger stimuli to maintain a healthy weight loss diet.
Critical reviews[7] on this topic have shown that psychological interventions get the stage in recent years with their effects on weight loss. Researchers indicated that changing eating behaviors lead to weight loss and fat burn because eating habits[8] are closely related to psychological dimension.
The behavioral mediators[8] related to obesity were listed in the meta-analysis as the following:
- autonomous motivation
- flexible eating restraint
- self-regulation skills = self-monitoring
- positive body image
- high autonomous motivation
- self-efficacy
- self-regulation skills
There was an association between behavioral mediators, weight change, and physical activity.
Motivation, flexible eating restraint, self-regulation skills, and positive body image helped medium or long-term weight control. High autonomous motivation, self-efficacy, and regulation skills were effective in physical activities. However, the evidence wasn’t very clear for dietary intake, and there were no consistent mediators to identify.
A 5–10% loss from the initial weight can be acceptable for healthy weight loss and may show significant clinical health improvement[9]. On the other hand, it is stated in one study that the effectiveness of behavioral treatments is about 10% of weight loss unless people may regain[10] these weights in the long term.
Hypnotic Interventions
Therapists help people by using hypnosis for both psychological and physiological change in several ways:
- Mental imagery helps the person visualize the achievement of their goals.
- Reinforcement with ideas or suggestions that align with a person’s goals.
- Unconscious exploration to identify whether past events or experiences are associated with a personal problem in making positive changes.
- Minimalizing the effects of past negative experiences on consciousness.
Hypnotic Amnesia
We can describe hypnotic amnesia[11] as a functional dissociation from awareness. Posthypnotic amnesia includes suggestions to forget specific information after hypnosis. By using this method, therapists can effectively interfere with the recall and recognition of the information provided during the session. At the end of the hypnosis, the suggestion can be canceled, which returns the mnemonic function to normal.
Posthypnotic amnesia[12] succeeds in making individuals forget pictures or real-life memories. In hypnotic amnesia, suggestions may be given to alter participants’ past experiences about weight gain, food consumption, or weight loss and their associated emotions.
You can also use self-hypnosis[13] techniques for your own healing, which are techniques close to mindfulness and meditation. Do you wonder how? Here is the answer.
Self-Hypnosis
Self-hypnosis, or auto-hypnosis, is a psychological treatment that you can do on your own to lose weight or change your other habits.
You can use self-hypnosis as a vehicle to achieve self-suggestion; by being both the practitioner and the participant. This process involves complete and total relaxation. When you get into a relaxed deep state, you can visualize your specific goals using your inner experiences, such as feelings, sensations, thoughts, and imagination.
There is some evidence that self-hypnosis can support mental health, improve sleep quality,[14] relieve anxiety, and reduce pain,[15] in addition to helping you in achieving healthy weight loss.
In a randomized control trial[16] in 2018, self-conditioning techniques were associated with significant weight loss. This practice improved participants’ satiety level, inflammation status, and life quality in 12 months.
Meditation For Weight Loss
Self-hypnosis shows some similarities to meditation. Both include a bunch of activities to help you tune in to your inner self, focus inward, and deep relaxation.
Mind and body interactions lead to beneficial changes in the brain. Some neuroplasticity changes include improved attention and emotional regulation, which can be effective in healthy body weight management as tools to reach your goals.
Attention Regulation
The anterior cingulate cortex and fronto-insular cortex are specific places in the brain[17] involved in attention regulation and cognitive processing. Enhanced activation of these cortexes has been reported during focused attention in meditation. Mindfulness meditation prevents[18] the age-related decrease in the brain’s grey matter volume. These attention regulation activities show important protection against age-related dementia.
Emotion Regulation
These mental applications may reduce emotional reactions and effects of stressors, reduce physiological reactivity, and help you to return faster to a positive mental state. Mindfulness practices result in decreased activation of the amygdala, which is the responsible area of the brain for emotional stimuli.[19]
Due to the many effects of meditation, some studies have examined its effects on weight loss. A meta-analysis[20] showed that mindfulness-based interventions are moderately effective for losing weight and largely effective in reducing obesity-related eating behaviors.
Benefits Of Hypnosis For Weight Loss
Hypnosis supports the patient with suggestions that develop due to psychological-based eating disorders and the inability to prevent the urge to eat.
Many studies show that hypnosis is effective in weight loss and maintenance, which is strongly affected by the psychological relaxation and motivation gained in hypnotic activities.
An emotionally relaxed and strong mind will help you overcome the challenges you will face in your weight loss journey and boost your motivation. During the weight loss process, especially in some phases of the weight loss process, weight loss may slow down or stop due to changes in physiologic mechanisms in the body. This can cause individuals to be demotivated and even have psychological outcomes leading to depression. Hypnosis supports you at this point.
Who Should Try Hypnosis For Weight Loss?
Hypnosis can be an effective therapy for those who experience eating attacks, night eating, emotional eating behaviors, and individuals with eating behavior disorders such as bulimia nervosa.
Emotional eating attacks are frequent today due to our transfer of stressors in daily life to our eating behavior. With hypnosis, you can achieve emotional support and find the physiological source of the underlying weight gain problem.
Mindfulness-based therapies[21] showed significant improvements in:
- Intuitive eating
- Emotional impulse regulation
- Inhibitory control
- Stress management
Therefore, it may reduce emotional eating attacks.
Studies show that authorized practitioners can also apply hypnosis to pregnant women, older adults, and children. For this reason, it can be said that hypnosis applied by competent therapists is suitable for everyone.
Hypnosis can be used in individuals with other related psychological health conditions such as psychogenic pain disorder, sexual dysfunctions, smoking addiction, phobias, panic disorder, exam anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Sometimes these kinds of psychological problems can affect eating habits.
Hypnosis can also be used in general medicine to relieve pain, in surgeries with Hypno-anesthesia, in surgical interventions such as tooth extraction and gingival resection, and in diseases such as asthma, ulcer, ulcerative colitis, and irritable colon.
You Need To Know
Sometimes, you may feel overwhelmed by your emotions during a hypnosis session and also meditation. Still, if the practitioner can draw your attention, they refer to your imagination to keep you calm. Then they give you helpful suggestions to recall your positive experiences, and you can feel more relaxed.
To enter hypnosis,[13] you need to focus your attention during a hypnotic induction. There are many ways to focus. You can use vehicles such as a candle, music, chanting, or mantras. The therapist may simply guide you into a hypnotic state with their voice and suggestions.
One of the simplest methods to engage your imagination is by using re-experiencing a pleasant situation or daydreaming.
Practitioners can use hypnosis formally during therapy or informally in conversation by directing focus and imagination. Therefore, choosing a practitioner you can trust and feel safe within a comfort zone is important.
Final Thought
In your weight loss journey, hypnosis can have a significant positive effect on your eating intentions.
Cognitive training under hypnosis can lead to healthy changes in your eating habits. Cognitive efforts can include mindfulness, self-hypnosis, positive self-talk, and meditation.
Hypnosis with cognitive rehearsal suggestions positively affected the intention to eat. It can effectively remove foods you cannot give up from your life and help with eating addictions. In addition, hypnosis may be beneficial in acquiring other healthy living habits, such as regular exercise and quitting smoking. These, in turn, have an indirect effect on obesity and weight loss success.
Most importantly, aim to get hypnosis for weight loss intervention with a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist. Otherwise, it is only a waste of time, money, and emotional expectations when you don’t consult a professional you trust.
+ 20 sources
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Written by:
Sevginur Akdas, RD
Medically reviewed by:
Medically reviewed by:
