I recently had a live session with Frederique on Instagram and helped her get rid of a nasty eating addiction. Finding an eating addiction solution live is kind of exciting, but we think we succeeded. Maybe it will be helpful to you, too.
In this blog, I take you through how I helped her with hypnosis to get rid of eating addiction.
The monster of eating addiction
I began with a preliminary conversation of sorts in which I asked her what was bothering her.
In fact, she was suffering from a kind of monster, she described this in the following way, "Then this morning I came across shot nuts, I ate them, and then I ate all kinds of sweets and junk, when really, you resolve in everything not to do it, and yet I end up doing it and I know I'm doing it myself, but it's the monster in your head."
I asked her what the monster wanted.
"Yeah, and so I don't really get my finger on what that is exactly. I know my mother always said to me, you have exactly the same legs. If I thought anything was really terrible it was my mother's legs. So it also kind of feels like you don't really want to know anything about it."
People always want something positive for themselves
So this didn't really help and then we went a little deeper, what would the monster want from her, what positive things would the monster want for her.
It's always kind of interesting. Because if you look, including me, including others, of course, sometimes we have complaints, for example a pain or something. And the first reflex reaction of most people is, um yeah, numb, right? Because it's miserable and it never comes out. It's always a"not right now" idea. Whereas, when we start thinking about what that pain might mean, sometimes it's a signal of something else. The unconscious gives us all kinds of signals, but we as human beings often listen poorly.
When do we listen? When it hurts or when a monster is coming. And yet we often manage to ignore it. That's pretty interesting. What could that monster be telling me? What does it really want? Often it's something positive, oddly enough. She had already mentioned ray fears. So maybe she wanted to be a little unreachable or something. I'm just filling it in now, aren't I? But yeah, what could it get you?
There's not really an appropriate answer to this, but a description that when she eats healthy and well, she feels that her power is in the middle. That when she eats unhealthily, that strength is more beside her like something expanding.
When she is allowed to imagine what it would be like if that power was always right in the middle, what comes to her most of all is fear - fear of losing that good feeling again.
This, of course, is an unpleasant feeling. To avoid feeling that fear, you can also be powered by the monster in advance to eat delicious food, because at least that feels better than the fear of losing that power in the middle of your body.
Only then, you do it all yourself. She was the only one who could conjure up this feeling and make it lose weight by just eating beforehand.
So, the positive intent is actually safety. So we stick to the status quo because that gives us a sense of security. But still, it's exciting, because imagine you really have that power in the middle. You know intellectually that that would be fantastic. You would feel free, full of peace. But somewhere there is also a part that thinks, yes, but we can lose this.
So why take that leap when we can lose it? Let's just not do it, then we've already lost it.
This is also a bit of a mindset that may be in our culture. We are used to just doing it, to assume the worst, so that things will always be okay. But actually that's not always the most helpful statement, because imagine that you expect the worst and it doesn't turn out to be so bad, because then you're actually expecting the worst.
More to the Feeling
Back to feeling.
Edwin: "But if you think like that now, hey, what kind of feeling does that give you, for example, imagine you start off in the morning with a good start, but then you come across a bag of shot nuts. So how does that make you feel when you think about that so much that you have to have those?"
Frederique: "It's a constructive restlessness that arises and you can stop it all the time, but at some point it feels like you're having a seizure. It feels physical, like you're having such an attack. Then that is rest for a moment, but then it goes away again and then the insatiability begins. And what does that rest actually get you? In that moment for a moment of rest, but then it goes on again. It's a kind of insatiability."
Edwin: "And what is the ultimate benefit? If you feel happy, what does that yield?"
Frederique: "Yes, that's actually peace again," and then she made a gesture the same way she did when her power was in the middle. So the little monster actually wanted the same thing as herself, but who is looking for it in bubblers.
To the beginning of feeling
So what other ways are there to get that power in the middle apart from eating? Then we went to the beginning of her eating habits. This is an important step in using hypnotherapy to solve problems with eating addictions. Sometimes these can be quite severe problems, but fortunately this public session was not as severe as in some case studies. Sometimes you can just learn early on that food is a way to make your emotions positive again[1]. Frederique had taken it from her mother.
An interesting fact, because many people who suffer from problems with food have an inner child that needs attention. This then comes from unpleasant childhood experiences. And you don't even always have to go so deep into those unpleasant experiences, but it is important to heal your inner child so you can deal with food in a healthy way[2].
And whether you're the woman from the session or someone else, it's always nice to realize the following.
Let's assume that no matter what you've done, you've grown as a person. You've grown in different contexts, such as in relationships, with work and how you treat people. These are things you didn't know before, but now you do. During this process, you have discovered different ways to experience that stillness and peace. For example, you can do this by taking a walk, meditating or just looking outside. There may be a hundred ways to do this, but the Monster, or your inner self, doesn't know that. That Monster is probably just your inner child.
In the case of the session the four-year-old girl who thinks, "But we have to have drinks, I'll do something." But that little girl doesn't yet know that we are older and have long since found ways to experience that power, like maybe with music or other ways you can't even imagine.
Then I helped her start the conversation with her inner child. You too can do this. I gave her the following suggestion:
"You did a hearty job. Thank you. Because this was a really good solution. But it doesn't have to be anymore. Look, we already have that power; we already found that peace. And now you all show her moments where you experience that, without necessarily eating anything. That may have been, for example, during a walk in a forest, it doesn't really matter what it is exactly. Of course, she has yet to experience all that, so she doesn't know that yet. But do you show her all those moments, until she begins to smile and understand the power we get from that. Show it to her just as many times until she believes it. See, you're going to experience all of this, here you feel that power, here you feel that peace. And when it's no longer about eating something, then all these things don't matter anymore, because I've already learned it all. So you don't have to do it anymore. You've done well, heartily well done. Yes, you show it to her just until she starts smiling, until she understands.
When you see her smiling, tell her, "I forgive you. Good for you!" And then you give her a hug. In that moment, she is completely free and happy. She grows up within you, she merges with you. She becomes 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and through all the years of puberty. All those moments change, 20, 25, 30, all the way to now. Feel the contact where you are now."
You then conduct monitoring to see if the "feeling" causing the eating addiction is still there. You can continue to help your client, as I did with Frederique, to support the inner child to feel that the solution to the problem has nothing to do with food.
When things go well, they then feel relieved and light.
This was a fairly short session where especially important was the understanding that the "monster" wants to give you something positive and the healing of the inner child.
Watch the entire session here.
In a session with another client, you can also use suggestions that improve self-confidence and enhance self-control. If a traumatic event is the cause of an eating addiction, the solution can often also be found by applying regression. In this case, you are going to help the client reinterpret the traumatic memory so that the limiting belief it created is removed[3].
Would you also like to help people suffering from eating disorders? Then come to the free online master class for an introduction to hypnosis.
Or register right away for one of our seminars or trainings.
Just need help resolving an eating addiction? Then visit bestetherapeut.co.uk.
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