To minimize risk of exposure to and spread of the COVID-19 virus and COVID-19 variants, I am continuing to suspend in-person hypnotherapy sessions with me in my office. Meanwhile, phone, and Zoom consultations ARE and WILL REMAIN AVAILABLE!
(This blog was
originally posted on July 11, 2016)
Hypnosis Motivation Institute founder John
Kappas, Ph.D. advocated addressing the emotional problems that
caused the eating disorder when working with someone who suffered from anorexia nervosa or bulimia. The hypnotherapist believed
that this process would alleviate the symptoms of the disease in order to
address them directly. However, he warned against specifically mentioning the
client’s bingeing and purging behaviors because these would be inferred during
the hypnotherapeutic process. “If you’re not bingeing and purging, you’re not
as concerned about the weight,” Dr. Kappas said.
Therapy with
someone who is suffering from an eating disorder is a long process which may
take many sessions to overcome, Dr. Kappas warned. Furthermore, it is may take
many sessions for the hypnotherapist to build rapport with the client to
address these issues.
When working
with someone who has an eating disorder, he recommended changing the client’s
suggestibility from herself to the therapist in order to facilitate
treatment. “[She must] turn over conscious control to the therapist to take
control of the unconscious process,” Dr. Kappas explained. While she is in
hypnosis, provide suggestions to increase the client’s perception of having
self-control, feeling better about herself and being calm, he advised. “Think
of yourself feeling good physically, emotionally, psychologically. You’re
becoming important to yourself. You’re beginning to control old habits and
compulsions. You’re not controlled by old habits.”
Meanwhile,
the hypnotherapist and other members of the client's medical/psychological team
should monitor the person's eating and bingeing behaviors. “If they get worse,
the hypnotherapist] will have to move in and attack the behavior," Dr.
Kappas said.
As I explained in my blog titled, Eating Disorders Are Not an Extreme Diet, anorexia nervosa and bulimia are very complicated, dangerous conditions that can cause severe physiological destruction and even death. The symptoms and etiology (medical/psychiatric origin) of each are addressed in the Diagnostics and Statistic Manual of Mental Disorders, a basic reference guide for various psychiatric disorders. Typically, these conditions are out of scope of my or most other certified hypnotherapists’ professional expertise to address in hypnotherapy (Business and Professions Code 2908).* To do so, I would need to receive a referral from the person’s (licensed) medical doctor and/or mental-health worker to work with the individual. Even then, my input as a hypnotherapist would be only to help the client fortify her or his self-confidence and self-esteem and reinforce new healthy-eating behaviors recommended by the person’s medical and psychiatric team. Ultimately, the treatment (management) of anorexia nervosa and bulimia is often a lifelong process which must be done under such medical supervision.
*California law allows access by California
residents to complementary and alternative health care practitioners who are
not providing services that require medical training and credentials. The
purpose of a program of hypnotherapy is for vocational and avocational
self-improvement (Business and Professions Code 2908) and as an alternative or
complementary treatment to healing arts services licensed by the state. A
hypnotherapist is not a licensed physician or psychologist, and hypnotherapy
services are not licensed by the state of California. Services are
non-diagnostic and do not include the practice of medicine, neither should they
be considered a substitute for licensed medical or psychological services or
procedures.
Sara R. Fogan,
C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California.
She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. In July 2019 and
in September 2020 she was voted the Best Hypnotherapist in Santa Clarita,
California. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up
an appointment, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.
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