If you are unable to travel to The Therapy Centre in Roath, Cardiff, then enquire about Hypnotherapy home visits in Cardiff and the surrounding districts.There are certain situations that can prevent you from visiting the hypnotherapy practice:Physical mobility issues – Any physiological conditions that make travelling a problem for you e.g. arthritis, M.E. or pain issues.Treatment conditions – Any treatment conditions that cause anxiety or stress when you leave yourHypnotherapy home visits: If you can't travel to me, I may be able to travel to you home e.g. certain phobias or panic attacks.Preference – Maybe you would prefer to be treated at home for a number of different reasons.My therapy room at The Therapy Centre is on the 1st floor and so your ability to climb stairs is required. (If you wish to visit the practice and find stairs difficult, a ground floor treatment can be arranged in advance).
Hypnotherapy home visits: Costs
There are additional charges for hypnotherapy home visits. These are estimated according to the journey times:
£10 minimum journey fee is for a journey up to 10 minutes away.
£40 can be charged for a journey up to 45 minutes away for the surrounding districts.
An estimate is usually made prior to the first consultation and the travelling fee is then set for follow-up consultations.Please note that whilst travelling includes petrol costs, the majority of the travelling fee takes into account the total travelling time i.e. for the outward and return journey back to the clinic. Thus a 20 minute outward journey requires an extra hour being allocated in my diary to allow for potential traffic delays.
Hypnotherapy home visits: Payment
Payment is by cash/cheque. PayPal payment can also be made via my website in advance.Since hypnotherapy home visits require extra time being allocated in my diary, I require a deposit in advance of the next consultation.
Hypnotherapy home visits: Arrangements for the home treatment
Ideally a quiet, private area in your home would be suitable, but is not essential. As with the Therapy Centre, there are traffic noises and other noises within the building. Your home will have its own house sounds e.g. home telephone. If these sounds are anticipated, they don’t normally cause too much of a distraction to the consultation.Your comfort: At the hypnotherapy practice, I use a reclining chair. This isn’t always necessary. You being able to sit in a comfortable chair with your head supported would be preferable. This is obviously dependent on the furniture that you have at home. Some patients like to lie down on their settee.My comfort: I prefer to use an upright chair e.g. kitchen or dining room chair, positioned fairly close to you and facing you to conduct the consultation.
For further information on hypnotherapy home visits, contact Hypnotherapy Cardiff
Panic attacks are episodes of intense, almost paralysing fear where, as a result of the “fight or flight” response, the body is flooded with the stress hormone adrenaline. Panic attacks can be triggered suddenly and unconsciously. Before the sufferer has been able to identify the symptoms as a panic attack, the sufferer can feel as if they are having a heart attack or even think that they are dying.
During the early development of panic attacks, the sufferer can perceive their external situation to be quite “normal” making the panic attacks appear unpredictable and unavoidable. Having had one panic attack, the sufferer then becomes sensitised to the symptoms. Without have any coping strategies, the mildest trigger can set off a panic attack.
Panic attacks: how long can they last?
They can last anything from a few seconds to several minutes, sometimes developing in waves if the sufferer believes they are unable to alter the course of the panic attack e.g. remove themselves from a “closed” situation or relieve some of the symptoms when turbulence is causing panic when flying.
Sometimes the panic relates to internal or medical fears e.g. fear of having a heart attack. In this situation, panic attack sufferer is unable to distinguish between the symptoms as either anxiety or an actual heart attack. This may be have been triggered by someone they know who has suffered a panic attack. A similar situation can be created by an asthma sufferer whose asthma symptoms are anxiety-induced.
Panic attacks: What causes them?
Physical or medical causes:
Some panic attacks can have physical or medical causes. A doctor should always be consulted to dismiss the following conditions: certain heart conditions, overactive thyroid, low blood sugar, medication withdrawal and stimulant overuse.
Panic attacks: Lifestyle changes can be a major reason to hit the panic button
Major lifestyle changes:
Stress caused by some of the big lifestyle changes include getting married, changing jobs, moving house, divorce, having a baby and suffering a bereavement. Due to the amount of change in these events, these lifestyle changes place an increased demand on your physical and emotional coping abilities. These symptoms are made worse when several of these events occur in close succession.
A family trait:
Panic attacks can run in families, although the specific nature of the link is unknown. This could be a genetic or a learned response. Young children are vulnerable to learning coping behaviour displayed by their parents. The parents may suffer from extreme anxiety (catastrophic thinking) or have specific phobias. The child can learn this way of dealing with anxiety.
Phobias and anxious/stressful situations:
Panic attacks are closely associated with phobias. The common coping response with a phobia is avoidance to protect you from the feeling of panic. Not all situations can be avoided however. A panic attack can be generated as a shock response when the phobic person is brought into contact with the cause of the phobia without warning. An example is when someone who has an arachnophobia panics when they see a spider in a friend’s bathroom.
Anxious and stressful situations can create also panic attacks. When someone is aware of the situation that can create a panic attack, avoidance can again be used as a common coping strategy. There are situations where the sufferer feels obliged to confront their panic e.g. someone who fears public speaking has to give a presentation at work. In the absence of any helpful resources, a panic attack can be experienced whilst giving the presentation.
The panic attack may also happen through anticipation. This is when the presentation is planned say next week and the sufferer accumulates an increasing amount of anxiety as the presentation nears. Your anxiety then “takes” you to your panic attack, near to or during the presentation.
Left unmanaged, these situations can accumulate more fear of panic attacks (fear of fear). An example is when the spider phobic feels increasingly embarrassed about having a panic attack around people. A social phobia develops until they enter a state of helplessness. The sufferer then believes that by staying at home, they can prevent a panic attack. The situation accumulates into agoraphobia.
Panic attacks: What are the common symptoms?
The symptoms of a panic attack are similar to general anxiety but are usually higher up the intensity scale. They can include one or more of the following:
Intense sweating (armpits, hands, forehead or complete cold sweat)
Shaking, trembling or feeling petrified
Chest pain or tightness, heart pounding, beating faster, palpitations
Mind going 'blank', dreamlike sensations or perceptual distortions
Ringing ears
Muscle tension
Weakness, fatigue, feeling of powerlessness
Tummy upset or nervous diarrhoea
Heightened alertness to danger, constantly feeling on edge
Without knowledge of these panic attack symptoms, the sufferer can become highly anxious about them, inducing further panic attacks.
Panic attacks: Can they happen spontaneously?
During the early stages of panic attacks, the sufferer may not understand them or be able to attribute any situational cause and so is left “waiting” for the next one to happen. Some panic attacks can appear to happen spontaneously but have an undiagnosed medical cause. When diagnosed and appropriately treated, the panic attacks subside. Panic attacks can happen in the middle of the night causing the sufferer to wake from their sleep. There may not be a recognised cause at the moment of happening, but nocturnal awakening can be stress-related.
Panic attacks: When hyperventilating, breathing techniques can be a better alternative to using a paper bag
Panic attacks: what is panic disorder?
Whereas panic attacks can occur during bouts of stress, panic disorder is a condition where the person suffers recurrent panic attacks. They live in fear of their panic attacks which exacerbates their condition (fear of fear). Panic disorder is a type of anxiety disorder which is characterised by persistent worry.
Panic attacks: How can hypnotherapy treat them?
Hypnotherapy can teach relaxation techniques
Breathing techniques can be taught to alleviate some of the anxiety symptoms. When used correctly, you can slow down the pace of your breathing thereby reducing the potential to hyperventilate. During a hypnotherapy induction, you are in a deeply relaxed state that helps you to be more receptive to suggestions used. The learning ability is enhanced in hypnosis, which means you take away a more profound experience of the relaxation achieved with the breathing techniques used.
Hypnotherapy can release negative beliefs (triggers) that cause the panic attacks
With panic attacks, the sufferer may not be aware that there is a deep internal conflict between unconsciously (and consciously) acquired beliefs. You can be torn between two or more opposing belief patterns, or the opposing consequences of taking a certain course of action e.g. trying to please too many people at once. When they conflict, it creates the surge of adrenalin and the sudden awareness of the panic symptoms (the “fight or flight”). You may inadvertently try harder to resolve or control the situation, sometimes exacerbating the panic attack. Hypnotherapy can identify which negative beliefs are in conflict and causing the adrenaline responses.
An example of a conflicting situation is when an employee is desperate for promotion to help pay off a loan. They have an opportunity for promotion but the method includes an interview and a presentation. The employee suffers with presentation anxiety and finds it hard to speak when anxious. They suffer anticipatory anxiety leading up the day of the presentation and then realise they have made a gross error in their preparation during the interview. This realisation sets off a panic attack. There are conflicts between the need for promotion and the need to perform well during a presentation.
Everybody is likely to react differently in that situation. The individual who does not have an internal “vent” or way or coping is likely to find their adrenaline pushing some of the above symptoms to the upper limits. Hypnotherapy can be used to control the build up of these symptoms.
Hypnotherapy can help identify the nature of unconscious panic responses
Deep-rooted unconscious issues can sensitise you to a particular situation as a child. They can remain dormant and then resurface when the situation is encountered again as an adult. For example childhood bullying which re-surfaces as panic attacks when the adult is confronting an aggressive boss at work. Hypnotherapy can help re-frame the emotion from your childhood helping you to cope as an adult.
Hypnotherapy can help de-sensitise the sufferer from panic-causing situations
As the sufferer has more control over their panic attacks, they can begin to challenge the situations that they have avoided. Progressively dealing with that situation can alter the panic responses and break the anxiety-response habit. Hypnotherapy helps you to rehearse your coping in each stage of your progress as if the event as actually happened.
Panic attacks summary
Panic attacks are extremely distressing episodes of intense anxiety. In the absence of any conflicting medical conditions however, panic attacks don’t cause death. Once you can identify them for what they are, hypnotherapy can help you cope with them and change the meaning of them. As you have more control over your panic attacks and change your beliefs towards them, they usually subside.
For further information on treating panic attacks in Cardiff with hypnotherapy, contact Hypnotherapy Cardiff
Hypno Band Hypnotherapy – Just another visualisation technique!
Are you thinking of trying a Hypno band hypnotherapy course to lose weight? Before you decide to book a course, read on...How many times have you seen something that is already well-established, being re-moulded with an attempt to attract a new market? At the heart of hypnotherapy is the use of visualisation techniques to create change. As a practising registered hypnotherapist, I have been a witness to several rehashed hypnotherapy treatments claiming to be the new miracle-cure on the block. Hypno band hypnotherapy is attempting to do the same thing. It is based on the principles of Gastric band surgery; an operation that restricts the amount of food you can eat by reducing the size of your stomach. Instead of the actual surgery, you can visualize the process for a fraction of the cost. You can then live your life as if your stomach has been shrunk, imagining that you have had a gastric band fitted. This is what is being promoted anyway!How does Hypno band hypnotherapy compare to a course of weight loss hypnotherapy that has been personalised by an experienced hypnotherapist? In my view, you will benefit much more because it takes into account your individual needs. All that Hypno band hypnotherapy does is offer you a costly programme of regurgitated methods, promoted under a new title.What are the problems of Hypno band hypnotherapy?
Hypno band hypnotherapy: Is there any research?
When you see something in a newspaper or hear that a friend has benefitted from something, can this be used as factual research? No, it’s nothing more than a dramatised case study. It’s only when Hypno band hypnotherapy research is published in reputable journals e.g. European Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, can any of its “long-lasting” claims be taken seriously. Until then, questions about placebo controls and randomised samples asked to any reported Hypno band hypnotherapy research are likely to be missing. There is no evidence that Hypno band hypnotherapy is any more successful than individualised weight loss hypnotherapy. So unless any recent research has surfaced, any percentage claims of success should be viewed with scepticism.
Hypno band hypnotherapy: If the Hypno band hypnotherapy treatment is so effective, why haven’t they abandoned the gastric band surgery?
If Hypno band hypnotherapy was so successful, would there be any need for the surgery?When there is a safe, effective and cheaper alternative available to something, most people will chose that option. Gastric band surgery costs at least £5000. Since the arrival of Hypno band hypnotherapy, I’m not aware of any reduction in gastric band operations. If Hypno band hypnotherapy was so effective, the NHS would reduce their surgery bill and opt for something cheaper: Hypno band hypnotherapy.Consider also that patients who qualify for gastric band surgery must have attempted and failed with other weight loss treatments. The surgery would be in decline if Hypno band hypnotherapy was proving to be an effective treatment. Is there a decline in these operations? I’m not aware of any decline.
Hypno band hypnotherapy: Does one success story mean that everyone can rely on it?
It’s so easy for your beliefs to be swayed to buy something when you hear a success story. How often have you bought something when you are desperate, and a friend tells you that it’s a success, only to find out that it hasn’t quite worked for you in the same way? When Hypno band hypnotherapy appears in the press, it’s easy to over-generalise that everyone can benefit by this. If only Hypno band hypnotherapy was like this. One reported incident of success can hide some essential reasons why these changes have or haven’t happened. Maybe these issues weren’t reported or they just didn’t materialise in the therapy process.Inflated expectations can be damaging. In my hypnotherapy practice, “word-of-mouth” referrals are fantastic for business. Having realistic expectations and recognising that every patient is different is also important. When a patient has made a dramatic therapeutic change and they emphasise this to their friends, the friends will enter hypnotherapy with the same inflated expectations. They demand the same outcome as their referrer and usually leave disappointed because they haven’t matched their success.
Hypno band hypnotherapy: Regardless of visualisation, are you just being told to eat fewer calories?
When you see a newspaper headline saying that hypnosis caused a patient to lose 8 stone in weight, you would think that is was the Hypno band hypnotherapy suggestions that did this. Is it like a stage hypnosis show where participants are hypnotised and are told to imagine that they are wearing a Hypno band and from that consultation, they live their lives like a gastric band surgery patient? In a newspaper article, it reported that the patient had to follow the same intense diet as that adopted by a gastric band surgery patient. It consisted of an all-liquid diet followed by pureed foods and then solids. What was the calorific content of the liquid diet? The article failed to mention this. It’s common understanding that if you eat fewer calories than you burn, you will lose weight. When you are told that you must follow this diet for the Hypno band hypnotherapy to work, you will think that it must be because of the Hypno band hypnotherapy doing the job. It may just be because you have paid for two consultations and now feel committed to following a prescribed diet.
Hypno band hypnotherapy: The article doesn’t emphasise that the Hypno band hypnotherapy was a small part of the treatment
In the newspaper article, the Hypno band hypnotherapy patient had a course of ten hypnotherapy consultations. The Hypno band hypnotherapy programme consisted of just three consultations. This suggests that there were a number of other issues that were being treated using other techniques, but this wasn’t mentioned in the article. It could be considered that Hypno band hypnotherapy was not the main focus of the treatment.Having lost eight stone during the course of hypnotherapy treatment was a fantastic achievement. Both patient and therapist deserve praise for their success. The patient will have paid between £700 and £900 pounds for the hypnotherapy course. This is still cheaper than the gastric band surgery, but was it because of the three Hypno band hypnotherapy sessions or the other personalised hypnotherapy sessions? It’s difficult to really know.
Hypno band hypnotherapy: Do you need to visualise that you have had a Hypno band fitted?
Do you need to visualise that you have had a Hypno band fitted?There are numerous hypnotherapy weight loss scripts. Try Google searching them and you will findsome are written for novice hypnotherapists and some for patient’s self-hypnosis purposes. Visualising that “your stomach feels smaller and you feel satisfied and fuller on less food” is a common weight loss suggestion. It is a basic building block that helps to focus your mind towards your weight loss goal. Added to this could be suggestions about your eating style – “slowly andconsciously” or that your “stomach has shrunk in size”. If you can visualise this then it will have the same benefit as a Hypno band hypnotherapy treatment. Putting yourself through an imagined surgeryjust isn’t necessary to create this change.
Hypno band hypnotherapy: A good reason to doubt its effectiveness
When you have been trying to lose weight and desperation kicks-in, it’s easy to be swayed by catchy marketing phrases. It’s important to enter any therapy with a realistic expectation that requires some lifestyle changes on your part. This is the case with gastric band surgery; you must still be prepared to change your eating habits or there could be associated problems.Hypno band hypnotherapy is part of a current trend in using a medical procedure and making something “new” for the receptive public. Hypno band hypnotherapy is not being shown to be any more effective than personalised hypnotherapy courses. When it’s advertised that a condition can be treated in a specified number of consultations, it doesn’t mean that it can be treated successfully. There is not a “one treatment fits all” out there, otherwise the NHS would have adopted this method by now. When you have a personalised course of weight loss hypnotherapy it is more likely to take into account your historical relationship with food, your general emotions, current stress and habits that link with your eating patterns. It has the best opportunity to direct you to your personalised weight loss success. Abandon Hypno band hypnotherapy and lose weight with a personalised hypnotherapy course.
For further information on choosing personalised weight loss programmes over Hypno band hypnotherapy in Cardiff, contact Hypnotherapy Cardiff
In my first article on ‘how to stop smoking tips 1’, I discussed three of the essential background stop smoking issues that focus your mind on the big day. Firstly, recognise that the nicotine cycle is just cravings fooling your mind. Over time, as the addiction takes over, you will make up any justification to keep the addiction going. Secondly, by appreciating how anxiety and stress are connected with smoking, you can find new ways to cope with your anxious and stressful issues. Without this, you will feel like an “ex-smoker” who is still vulnerable to smoking again. Thirdly, recognise how breathing (inhaling) is part of your smoking habit. Relaxed breathing is a way of controlling anxiety and stress. When you see these connections for what they are, life without a cigarette becomes a realistic achievement.In my hypnotherapy consultations, I aim to identify other important issues that individualise your smoking habit and match them with an appropriate stop smoking hypnotherapy treatment. Converting to being a non-smoker requires an understanding of your personal smoking triggers and then rehearsing alternative ways to cope without a cigarette. This way you can be ready for your stop smoking transformation.If you want professional help to stop smoking: Stop Smoking Cardiff
Stop Smoking Tips #1:
If you’ve previously stopped smoking, identify what caused you to re-start smoking
Stop smoking tips: Identify why you have previously re-started smokingIdentifying the reason for your smoking lapses can help you to establish your vulnerability when you want to stop smoking again. Stopping smoking is one achievement; staying stopped is the ultimate goal. When you know why you have re-started smoking, you can prepare different coping strategies that take you through past failings. This is particularly significant if you have stopped smoking for more than 3 days. After 3 days, research has shown that the majority of the nicotine has left your body. After 7 days, cotinine (the main nicotine metabolite) is absent from the blood. Physiologically, you have done the necessary work; you are an “ex-smoker.” What draws you back into smoking cigarettes after this period of stopping is what you psychologically and emotionally associate with your smoking habit. If you lapsed in a social situation, then it can explain that you are socially anxious, you give-in to peer-pressure or seek acceptance through social rewards. Armed with this knowledge, you can then prepare for a different way of coping in social situations.Ironically, the first lapse is usually an issue of over-confidence. You have stopped for a few weeks and haven’t fully understood the nature of your psychological smoking habit. You believe that you can stop-and-start whenever you feel like it. You then find yourself in a situation where you feel that something is missing. You think that “just one” cigarette won’t matter. You may not even enjoy restarting, but the one cigarette is enough to draw you back into your addiction as a smoker. For the rest of the day and the following days, you succumb to the power of the nicotine cravings. You have now learned how addictive nicotine can be and that you are not in as much control as you once thought.Stress can be a reason for re-starting smoking. As discussed in the “how to stop smoking tips 1”, if you underestimated the impact of stress, it may have drawn you back into smoking when going through a crisis. Psychologically, at higher a level of stress, your mind goes back to what it knows. If you have previously convinced yourself that smoking cigarettes helps you to cope with stress, the smoking trigger will overcome you. So you start smoking to get you through the stress, but after the stress has eased, the nicotine addiction will have you hooked again.Hypnotherapy can help you identify the nature of your stress and offer you alternative ways of coping. When you can see yourself coping with stress as a non-smoker, your confidence will grow. You can change from the mind-set of the “ex-smoker” to the “non-smoker.”Another reason for re-starting smoking is because when you have stopped, you put on weight. There is evidence that nicotine can act as an appetite suppressant but taking this issue into account, there are ways to ensure that the weight gain is temporary. Where smoking has been used to comfort your stress, food will tend to be the next accessible crutch. “Skinny smokers” who have become non-smokers, have included exercise and healthier eating in their transformation. When this issue is identified in a course of stop smoking hypnotherapy, weight loss suggestions are used to ensure a smoother transition through these health changes.Other reasons for re-starting smoking are varied and personal. Some stop smoking hypnotherapy patients are unsure why they have restarted smoking. When the reason is unconscious, hypnotherapy can be a useful tool to uncover and treat past negative learning. When your mind can connect with “why” you have done something, you can develop the necessary tools needed to fix the situation.If you have smoked continuously for years, then this issue of “re-starting” won’t directly apply to you. But your smoking habit will have integrated a number of other issues. By identifying situations when you have smoked more cigarettes, you can establish when you will be hit by the physiological and psychological cravings (see stop smoking tips #2, below).
Stop Smoking Tips #2:
If you’ve never tried to stop smoking, identify when you smoke more cigarettes and what influenced you to start in the first place
If you’ve never stopped smoking for more than 3 days then you are dependent on identifying your smoking triggers “inside” the nicotine addiction. Those with a heavier addiction may not be aware of those differences because there’s very little time when you are not smoking. Those with moderate addictions are likely to recognise these subtleties. Maybe it’s stress, anxiety or boredom. Once you have identified the link with your increased dependency on cigarettes, you can find alternative ways of coping once you have stopped.The reason that you first started smoking may have been several years ago, but don’t dismiss it as being irrelevant. Teenage traits can still direct adult behaviour. Many of you may have succumbed to peer-pressure back then. Do you find that you still smoke more cigarettes socially? If so then, social reinforcement is still part of your adult life.When you are stuck in a negative habit and are struggling to change it, hypnotherapy can be an effective technique to uncover the cause of the habit. Hypnotherapy can then be used to release the emotion behind the habit. For example, some of you may have started smoking to defy controlling parents. As an adult, the defiance is no longer required but is still blocking your progress. Taking a “U-turn” with your belief system can be difficult on your own. Many adult patients recognise that the reason for continuing smoking is pointless. But transforming defiance into something positive would mean changing a deeper part of your belief system. Regression hypnotherapy is used in this situation to help change emotional blocks.
Stop Smoking Tips #3:
Consider if you “miss” smoking in situations where you can’t smoke
This issue is something that smokers have had to deal with more since the ban on smoking in public places. When the ban was first announced, there was a moderate rebellion followed by general compliance. It may have hardened the defiant smokers attitudes to smoke “by right” when they ‘can’ smoke. For others, it was a breath of fresh air; (pun intended!) you just went outside!What is so helpful for the aspiring non-smoker is to consider if they “miss” smoking when they are not allowed to smoke. Many of my stop smoking hypnotherapy patients say that they just accept the situation and focus on other things. They don’t feel deprived. They flick the “internal smoking switch” off when entering their workplace, but switch “it” on again the moment they have left work. Can you see this positive “mind-mechanism” as a decision of choice? If you can, then it’s a choice that is transferable into other situations where you “can” smoke but chose not to smoke.
How to stop smoking tips: summary
Stop smoking tips to help you kick your smoking habitIn this article, these 3 stop smoking tips consider the fluctuations in your smoking behaviour. It considers the beliefs and emotions when you first started smoking, re-started smoking after temporary stops and increases and decreases in the number of cigarettes smoked in certain situations.When you have an understanding of these issues, you can prepare your stop smoking programme to match these changes in your smoking habit.Hypnotherapy helps to create a state of deep relaxation. In this state, your mind is more receptive to the suggestions used by the hypnotherapist to stop smoking. In my stop smoking hypnotherapy courses, the techniques are personalised to treat your stop smoking blocks quickly to help convert you from a smoker to a non-smoker.For professional help to stop smoking: Stop Smoking Cardiff
For further information on stop smoking tips, and stop smoking Cardiff hypnotherapy courses contact Hypnotherapy Cardiff
Overeating: Do you ever wonder why you find it had to stick to a diet? When overeating causes you to stray from your diet, then weight gain is unlikely to be just about the food types. Do you find yourself raiding the fridge or the snack cupboard after a bad day at work? If you do, then it can mean that something in your mind is much bigger than the motive you had when you first started your diet. Ignore this ‘something in your mind’ and it will gradually erode the best dietary intentions and cause you to put on weight.
This article focuses on overeating and considers how hypnotherapy can be used as an effective method to treat it.
What is overeating?
Overeating and comfort eating are terms used to describe an increase in your consumption of food. This increase is usually (but, not always) motivated by negative changes in your emotions and feelings. Emotional eating describes either an increase or a decrease in the consumption of food, affected by a change in emotion or feeling. In many ways, these terms overlap but in essence, they describe how a normal eating routine can be altered by a change in emotion or situation. It’s as if the person is temporarily possessed by a mind-state that replaces the original eating intention. After the excessive snack or meal, the person is left questioning “why did I do that?”
Why do you start overeating?
Overeating can be emotionally-linkedThe reason can be a simple one: you are eating too quickly and so you are not able to recognise afeeling of fullness. Slowing down your pace, chewing your food more and drinking water with your meal can help. When you are made aware of this issue during a hypnotherapy consultation, you are likely to make a change to your eating style.Emotional changes can be more difficult to change. Emotions and feelings are the driving force in so many of your actions or behaviour. When faced with a decision to solve a problem, you will have a surge of emotion that could direct you to act in one way or the other. You are heavily oriented to pursue what is beneficial and keep away from what is harmful.But these choices are complicated by who will benefit and when will I (or they) benefit. There could be a number of other conflicting questions (or beliefs and values) that intrude on a feeling of choice. Sometimes in despair, you seek an immediate fix or way out from that problem just to feel better.Food is something within easy reach and has a history of gratification pinned to your memories throughout childhood. You have learned that food can momentarily distance you from the problems in your world and replace it with a sweet sugariness (or a creamy chocolaty treat). It’s no wonder that overeating is so common.
Why does overeating continue?
A surge of emotion can create tension, disguising the usual internal awareness of fullness. You have already learned that food gives you momentary escape and thus a habit has been formed. So you keep overeating with the hope that it will ease the feeling of tension when a new problem surfaces. But some situations appear to have no way out. The overeating is ineffective at shifting the abdominal tension but you repeat the habit nevertheless, believing that it will still help you. You have become locked into a cycle of food being used to solve emotional problems by association. Now, your overeating is causing you to put on weight.
Who does overeating affect?
Eating excessively can affect anyone; there is an element of over-indulgence in all of us. It can be something that starts unnoticed until you jump on the scales, change a clothing size or hear a polite mention from someone you know (and then despise!) This triggers an awareness of the issue and you will attempt to be more careful. If it’s controlled then it usually fades into the background. When these situations accumulate and the attempts to change it fail, then it is classified as a problem. Hypnotherapy can be a useful solution at this stage.
Would a diet help you to deal with overeating?
Diets are less effective with emotional overeatingDiets work best when someone is motivated to eatdifferent foods within a new routine. They also work best when there is a strong desire to integrate theroutine into your lifestyle. All emotions are pointing in the direction of the new diet. With overeating in the background however, the diet will start and then will soon buckle under emotional strain. One or more emotions will expose your weaknesses until the diet collapses. Unless these emotional issues are dealt with, you will find that diets only work for a short period.Use hypnotherapy to change the emotional associations you have with food and any lifestyle eating habits. A diet will then seem like a more natural change.
Can overeating be the same as binge eating?
Overeating involves eating in excess, but doesn’t fall into the same severity as binge eating. Binge eating can be classified as an eating disorder. It involves frequent episodes of prolonged uncontrollable eating patterns that go way beyond any feelings of fullness. As a disorder, binge eating can be placed in the same category as anorexia and bulimia; there are a number of complex issues affecting these conditions. Even with hypnotherapy, binge eating is rarely dealt with in a short period of time.
What situations and emotions cause overeating?
Any negative (and some positive) emotions can cause overeating. Generally, overeating can be used to comfort an emotion or divert the arrival of a worse emotion or situation.Positive emotions can include social situations or where food is used as a reward.Here are some examples of emotional situations where overeating is common:Anger: A row with your partner about something you both strongly disagree about can trigger a pattern of overeating.Anxiety: Worrying about and preparing for an exam can be a situation where overeating is used to divert your anxiety.Apathy: A persistent situation like a court battle can leave you feeling numb. Food might be used to lift the spirits during spells of frustration.Boredom: Overeating is a common response to a life of routine and drudgery. Even when work has become this way, the emotion carries through into your social life where overeating has become the activity of interest.Blame: A culture where the outcome of a situation must have a cause can be turned inwardly when you can only point the finger of fault at yourself. A mistake that has caused a row in a relationship may influence overeating to comfort this blame.Denial: Ironically, overeating can be a behavioural response when someone is putting on weight, but they’re not quite ready to admit that there is a weight problem.Depression: A change in your job description that now has pointless objectives can create a state of meaninglessness where overeating is a temporary escape.Despair: Overeating can comfort a situation that appears to have no way out. The arrival of a long-term medical condition is an example.Disappointment: Food can be used to comfort you when something you expect to happen just didn’t go your way e.g. not getting the grade you wanted in an exam.Guilt: Overeating can be used to block feelings of guilt in a relationship after you have done something wrong and have been denied the opportunity to apologise or put the situation right.Hopelessness: An accumulation of stressful events may provoke an overeating response as way of coping with the feelings of resignation.Loneliness: Feeling isolated because your peer group have not invited you to a social arrangement can trigger an overeating reaction.Loss of self-confidence: Doubting your abilities may be reinforced when a project at work has not achieved the objective. Overeating is used to negatively reinforce this self-doubt dialogue saying “I can’t do this!”Procrastination: Food can be a tactical way of delaying dealing with stressful issues.Resentment: Being constantly excluded from your work colleagues for no apparent reason could provoke an overeating response to counter feelings of loneliness.Responsibility: A recent job promotion and taking care of a large family can leave you feeling overburdened with responsibility. Overeating can become a ritual that “gives you some space” when things are going wrong and you making risky decisions that are affecting people’s lives.Sadness: When a relationship has suddenly ended, the emptiness in your life can spark a desire to fill that space with food. Overeating can be something that is used to fill the emotional gap.Self-hatred: Maliciously lashing out at a loved one to get their attention, but finding that they suffer fatal consequences as a result can cause you to hate yourself. Overeating can be used to conceal your powerlessness to remedy the situation.Self-pity: When something has gone wrong, overeating can be a way of medicating yourself when others have seen through your attempts to seek attention.Shame: When a sensitive subject-matter has been exposed and ridiculed by your peer group, overeating can seem like an escape from your feelings of shame.Shock: The news of an unexpected bereavement can trigger overeating patterns to hide your feelings of grief.Stress: Overeating can be used as a way of coping with the pressure of having intense work deadlines.Tension: Physical tension can be generated from any negative emotion or situation. Parts of your body feel tight and you can feel generally irritable. You may not be able to identify the situation but overeating can somehow shift the uneasiness in your abdomen.Worthlessness: Overeating can be a reaction to numerous criticisms that cause you to question your own abilities. So when you do something wrong again, you reach for food to divert your feelings.
How can hypnotherapy help with overeating?
Each hypnotherapy treatment is individualised to your issues. Hypnotherapy is used to treat overeating in the following ways:
Hypnotherapy can help identify the emotions or situations that are causing the overeating.
Hypnotherapy can be used to access unconscious experiences that are provoking your overeating responses.
Hypnotherapy can help dissociate the overeating behaviour from the emotion or situation.
Hypnotherapy can help create new beliefs and attitudes towards your eating habits.
Hypnotherapy can help you to recognise your internal feelings of fullness.
Hypnotherapy can teach youbreathing techniquesthat reduce your stress levels and so be less dependent on food as your comfort.
For further information on how to control overeating, comfort eating and emotional eating in Cardiff contact Hypnotherapy Cardiff
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