Coping with eating disorders is not easy – as statistics show – but a variety of treatments, including hypnotherapy, can help counter this problem which is getting worse in the UK. 
Understanding disorders seems to be a problem too with broadcaster Baroness Joan Bakewell causing recent upset by describing anorexia as a sign of narcissism in modern society.
The BBC quoted an interview she did with the Sunday Times in which she said: “No one has anorexia in societies where there is not enough food,” adding that this was a ‘sign of the overindulgence of our society, over-introspection, narcissism really’.
Reacting to this, Time to Change, a mental health anti-stigma campaign run by the charities Mind and Rethink, said that anorexia was the same as any other mental health problem, ‘a genuine and debilitating condition, with complex causes’.
A spokesman said: “The stigma and misunderstanding surrounding these issues only makes life harder for people going through them – so what we need is increased understanding and support.”
The NHS says anorexia is a ‘serious mental health condition’, which can affect both men and women. Symptoms of anorexic behaviour include missing meals, taking appetite suppressants and having physical problems such as feeling lightheaded and having dry skin.
One way to treat eating disorders is with hypnotherapy and the National Council for Hypnotherapy (NCH) as more than 1,800 members across the UK who are qualified to treat such problem behaviours.
Hypnotherapy can use the power of suggestion to change habits and thoughts and with eating disorders like anorexia the hypnotherapist would try to facilitate a change in thinking when it comes to eating.
This will help the therapist understand the root cause of the eating disorder and will, obviously, help with recovery. By using regression techniques, the therapist will go into the client’s subconscious to find the event, comment or situation that could have led to the eating disorder.
Eating disorders seem to be a growing problem among teenagers and the number of teenage hospital admissions across the UK for teenagers with eating disorders has nearly doubled in the last three years, according to the NHS.
They increased from 959 teens aged 13 to 19 in 2010/11 to 1,815 in 2013/14. Although the numbers are relatively low, experts say the rate of increase (89%) is mirrored by a larger number of cases that do not go to hospital.
The Royal College of Psychiatrists said much of the increase is down to social pressure made worse by online images, adding that it was easy to find tens of millions of pictures of people with ‘perfect-looking’ bodies on social media.
In treating a client with an eating disorder, a hypnotherapist will use positive suggestions under hypnosis can also help them change the way they see themselves. This will build a positive self-image and the n the therapist can also teach new ways of thinking about eating, gradually improving the relationship with food.
Hypnosis for weight loss is about changing established negative habits around food and body image and the best results come when the person with the problem commits to this.
To find an NCH therapist near you, simply click here to access the directory.