Efficacy of hypnosis on treating obesity and high impulsivity levels

A new study released by the Lancet shows that in 2022, more than 1 billion people in the world are now living with obesity (1 in 8). Worldwide, obesity among adults has more than doubled since 1990, and has quadrupled among children and adolescents (5 to 19 years of age). The data also show that 43% of adults as being overweight in 2022. 

The obesity epidemic is giving rise to a host of obesity-related comorbidities such as impaired glucose tolerance, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and hepatic steatosis (liver disease). 

There are various methods of managing and reversing obesity including using approved drugs, weight loss surgery, endoscopic procedures, and behavioural approaches. Whilst medical and surgical procedures are life saving for some, the latter offer sustainable approaches to managing lifestyle changes e.g., eating more healthily, reduce calorie intake, increasing exercise, and psychosocial approaches to manage underlying emotional triggers for managing harmful eating and dietary overconsumption, and preventing relapse. 

Hypnotherapy, a commonly used and successful intervention for supporting people to manage weight and appetite issues, helps people to make changes at both the psychosocial and behavioural levels. For example, a recent randomised control study was conducted by Delestre, et al, (2022) which explored the use of hypnosis as a method of reducing food impulsivity in patients with obesity and high levels of disinhibition. 

The control and hypnosis groups in their study, received the same standard nutrition education in 8 workshops. In the hypnosis group, participants had 8 sessions of hypnosis combined with training in self-hypnosis. Disinhibition and other scores from the TFEQ-51 as well as anthropometric, food intake, cardiometabolic, and physical activity variables were collected at inclusion and at 8 months.

The researchers concluded from the study that hypnosis and self-hypnosis for the treatment of adults with obesity with a high disinhibition score, significantly improved their underlying 'deep mechanisms'  of eating behaviours and hypnosis had a beneficial effect on weight loss.