Hypnotherapy Case

Weight Loss

Introduction

This essay is a case study for a Miss E. She has come for therapy to assist with her requirement to lose weight. The description within the case study covers very little information about her current lifestyle including what she does for a living, her modality or her likes and dislikes; a screed is required but the ability for the therapist to tailor this specifically to this client is limited, and so a generic induction will be used.

The aim of the essay is to review the methods that could be used and to develop a successful toolset to help Miss E build a confident and proactive attitude to weight loss. It will also look at the ethical considerations that should be taken into account when developing the therapy and how this may exclude the use of hypnotherapy in this case.

Finally I will highlight the factors which may restrict or reduce the effectiveness of the therapy and offer considerations on how these factors could be mitigated through reviewing them with the client and building appropriate scripts to aid the client in increasing her motivation to reach her goal.

Observations

Miss E has been overweight since her teenage years and has struggled with weight control. The case study states that her parents focused on her weight, she states that they "badgered" her which suggests that she felt this was a constant and significant component of her early years. It seems form the words she uses that she has not been confident within herself; this focus on her weight by her parents would have increased her feeling of inadequateness, and might suggest that food may be a support for her when she feels upset or fearful.

She states she is looking for a new partner after her previous six-year relationship "failed". Her use of this strong terminology would suggest that ending was not a positive decision by her to move on from a relationship that was destructive, however she does suggest that her previous partner was controlling and almost seemed to want her to stay overweight. There is not enough detail to fully understand this situation, however her previous partner may have felt unsure of himself and by controlling Miss E may have been borne out of a fear of losing her to someone else if she looked attractive.

As Miss E is 29, she would have met her previous partner when she was in her early twenties; and although there was little detail on her working life or other relationships prior to this one, it would suggest that this was likely to have been her most long term relationship - certainly in her adult life.

Concerns and ethical considerations

Miss E states that she wishes to lose 2 ½ stone in total, which is a significant amount of weight - there is no indication of how heavy she is and I would need to consider this information to make sure that the weight loss she wishes to lose is appropriate.

She states that she has had a number of diets but has always put the weight back on. It would be useful to discuss these previous attempts to understand how successful the diets were, what she found helpful in them that aided the weight loss, and how she felt about herself when she had lost the weight. Also it would be useful to find out if there were particular reasons why she began to regain weight; were there, for example, certain incidents that brought her back to food - does she understand what happened?

On the face of it, she does seem to have a number of positive goals attached to her weight loss target; as she has just left a relationship and is looking for a new more positive life and partner, this would suggest a potential for her to gain self-esteem and confidence through the weight loss. However equally there could be some risk of her allowing others to prescribe her feelings and view of her self-worth which could counteract her internal efforts to lose weight and gain confidence.

Similarly her goal to have lost weight by the time she goes on holiday with her friends is a positive target - it should be considered that the total weight loss goal may take longer than she has before this holiday takes place.

The NHS states that a healthy rate of weight loss is approximately 2lbs a week or 1% of a person's total body weight. Although usually the initial rate of weight loss is often greater, this rate may well reduce as she gets closer to her target weight.

Assuming a weight loss of 2lbs a week, then her 2 ½ stone total goal will take in the region of 17 weeks to complete - the holiday is about 12 weeks away so I would need to take time to review this with Miss E and help her understand that she may not have reached her goal weight by the time she goes on holiday which could demotivate in her effort for weight loss. She does, however, have the potential to have made significant progress in the time she does have available before her holiday. Normally, having a goal of this type would be a positive tool in hypnotherapy. Care should be taken in this case, and other methods for convincers within the therapy should be used, for example rather than using an image of herself at a goal weight to build confidence and success, it would be possible to guide her into recognising how each small step builds on the previous step and through constant improvement she can see positive changes in her health