Can Hypnosis Really Help With Weight Loss? That’s CRAZY!

I use to think that hypnosis was for stage shows. It was used to make people bark like dogs, jump on one foot while spinning around, and lots of other crazy things. This is called stage hypnosis and while it may be entertaining, I’ve learned there’s so much more that hypnosis can do. I learned that not all hypnosis is this crazy. There’s another kind of hypnosis that can actually be used to help people. A few years ago I was introduced to this other kind of hypnosis called Medical Hypnosis. I’ve since learned what hypnosis is able to do, and I’m amazed! Hypnosis can help with everything from anxiety to migraines to insomnia, and from phobias to quitting smoking to pain management. I’ve personally used hypnosis to: give birth to my children completely naturally and pain-free, keep my family in perfect health and survive cold & flu season, increase my energy and positive outlook on life, and I even used hypnosis to reduce my breasts after breast feeding my 3 kids! Hypnosis has become extremely popular for weight loss. Why? Because it works! It’s been clinically proven to work. Hypnosis for weight loss has been clinically studied and proven to work, without a shadow of a doubt.

In a 9-week study of two weight management groups (one using hypnosis and one not using hypnosis), the hypnosis group continued to get results in the two-year follow-up, while the non-hypnosis group showed no further results (journal of Clinical Psychology, 1985).

In a study of 60 women separated into hypnosis versus non-hypnosis groups, the groups using hypnosis lost an average of 17 pounds, while the non-hypnosis group lost an average of only .5 pounds (journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 1986).

In a meta-analysis, comparing the results of adding hypnosis to weight loss treatment across multiple studies showed that adding hypnosis increased weight loss by an average of 97% during treatment, and even more importantly increased the effectiveness POST TREATMENT by over 146%. This shows that hypnosis works even better over time (journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 1996). Here are the details on some of the studies:

Cochrane, Gordon; Friesen, J. (1986). Hypnotherapy in weight loss treatment. journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 54, 489-492.

Kirsch, Irving (1996). Hypnotic enhancement of cognitive-behavioral weight loss treatments–Another meta-reanalysis. journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 64 (3), 517-519.

Allison, David B.; Faith, Myles S. Hypnosis as an adjunct to cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy for obesity: A meta-analytic reappraisal. journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. 1996 Jun Vol 64(3) 513-516

Stradling J, Roberts D, Wilson A, Lovelock F. Controlled trial of hypnotherapy for weight loss in patients with obstructive sleep apnoea. International journal of Obesity Related Metababolic Disorders. 1998 Mar;22(3):278-81. So is hypnosis crazy? Well ... I guess it depends on what you’re using it for. It’s pretty crazy and comical if you’re using stage hypnosis to quack like a duck ... but if you truly want to lose weight, medical hypnosis is an amazing, PROVEN way to help you get the pounds off. So no ... medical hypnosis is not crazy.