The media continues to push scare-stories of extreme weight loss programmes, blaming their popularity on a desire to achieve the ‘perfect’ look, as seen on social media and in the beauty and fashion industries.
Often this is labelled Anorexia or Body Dysmorphia but I have encountered many cases where extreme weight loss has nothing to do with Social Reinforcement or body image concerns.
For some people, weight loss is not the goal but a side effect of an eating disorder or an unwanted result of an entirely different condition, such as:
- An inability to swallow,
- A fear of choking or gagging ,
- Phobia of swallowing,
- Anxiety about using or needing the toilet,
- OCD or Intrusive Thoughts (about chewing or germs for instance),
- ARFID ( Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder) – which can make eating certain types or textures of food extremely difficult.
How Can Hypnotherapy Help?
When someone comes to me for Curative Hypnotherapy, we begin by talking through the situation. This helps me to understand their eating issues or weight-loss concerns and the experiences that may have contributed to them.
We can then begin the treatment itself, working to identify and correct the underlying cause of the reaction.
An illustration:
Eve was 24 when she came to me for treatment having dropped two dress-sizes and beginning to suffer various health issues due to rapid weight loss and being underweight.
Some while ago, while dining out with friends, Eve choked on some food and was only saved by the quick actions of a nearby stranger. Steadily over the next few months, Eve’s nervousness about a similar occurrence developed and grew. Eventually, the anxiety was so acute that she was unable to eat while alone, would only eat soft or liquidised foods and permanently felt that something was stuck in her throat. Quite simply she could not force herself to eat and was slowly starving.
Eve dreaded ending up in hospital and having doctors force-feed her. Previous treatments had tried to encourage her to eat, teach her coping strategies or help her relax, but none had resolved the problem. Even revisiting the original choking incident in therapy had failed to produce any lasting improvement.
Eve knew what had happened to start her fear. She understood why she had become frightened of choking. But why did the fear continue to control her life?
That was the question I wanted to answer through my work with Eve.
Choking must have been a terrifying experience, and a degree of caution around eating would have been entirely understandable in the immediate aftermath. But why did that caution persist? Why did it grow stronger? And why had one frightening experience convinced her that choking would happen again?
After all, choking could happen to any of us. Yet most of us don’t spend our lives terrified of eating because of that possibility. So what made Eve’s experience different?
Identifying and correcting the reasons behind her continuing fear was essential. The aim was to neutralise the perceived risk that kept the reaction going, allowing her anxiety to subside.
Gradually, Eve’s anxiety receded. She began to expand her diet, effortlessly and naturally, until she could eat a healthy, normal range of foods again.
Understanding the Difference Between
the Start and the Cause
No two people share exactly the same experiences, and no two people develop difficulties in quite the same way.
Some people can identify the incident that first triggered their symptoms. Others may have no conscious awareness of an Initial Sensitising Event (ISE) or a particular triggering incident.
But whether or not someone knows when their problem began, we still need to understand why they continue to experience its effects.
Curative Hypnotherapy aims to identify and correct the underlying information that maintains the unwanted reaction. By addressing the reason the response continues, rather than simply managing its symptoms, treatment aims to neutralise the trigger or ISE and help the person return to a happier, healthier life.
Helen Lesser has been providing Curative Hypnotherapy treatment since 1982. To find out more about her qualifications and experience – see About Helen Lesser or contact her directly: Contact
