Improving your self-image about the body with hypnosis

It's getting warmer and the slightly bland clothes are being pulled out of the closet again. For some, this is a time they look forward to. For them, Skirt Day is the day for eating ice cream outside in the sun and enjoying themselves. For the other, it is the day they just don't want. Not even a skirt is put on, even though they might secretly want to. The most striking thing is that these two scenarios can take place in two people with the same body type, but who have a different view of it.

If you have a healthy body and yet are insecure or feel that you are too fat, ugly, or whatever you think about your body it can have a negative impact on your life.

Therefore, in this article, I discuss distorted self-image and what it can do.

The situation I just outlined can also apply to men. In their case, skirt day can be the day when the tight shirts come on and where there can be dancing with cute women. But even if you want to, you may still think you don't stand a chance because you think you don't look good enough.

Fashion image for men also fiercer

Research has shown that not only women but also men can suffer from a distorted body image. Just as with women, men are increasingly confronted with advertisements in which men are portrayed as increasingly muscular.

The clearest example of how the ideal image for men is also changing is Wolverine in the X-men movies. In the first movie (2000), he is fairly muscular, but still normal. He has a body that you can achieve as a man if you just have to work in addition to that. But in the last films, he has an obvious sixpac and all kinds of pumped-up muscles. He is at least twice as wide as in the first X-men movie. Meanwhile, we are also fifteen years on.

It should not be forgotten that actor Hugh Grant is paid to look good. Thus, in preparation for a movie, he can spend entire days exercising to pump himself up. This is a "luxury" that most people who have a job or pursue an education do not have.

So it's actually unreasonable to compare yourself to a muscular model or actor. It is their job to look good.

The same goes for women. You can compare yourself to models and actresses, but you are selling yourself short. Especially if you have a healthy body.

Body Dismorphic Disorder (BDD)

Everyone has something they would like to see different about themselves, but in very serious cases, there is even a disorder. If you are just healthy, slim, a symmetrical face with normal proportions there are still people who find themselves so ugly that they prefer to stay inside or undergo plastic surgery very often. In very extreme cases it can even make you suicidal.

Even though the majority of people do have something they want to see different about themselves, someone with BDD can be extremely concerned about it. For example, you then only think about what you find ugly and find it difficult to focus on daily activities.

There may also be a fear of physical abnormalities.

If you suffer from BDD, you may have an obsession with a particular body part, often these are the breasts, eyes, hips, teeth, legs and/or bone structure. Men and women are equally likely to suffer from this disorder. Symptoms begin on average from the age of 16.

In some cases, it can also be about how muscular you are. So if you already look like a bodybuilder but still think you are not muscular enough and can only think about that, it is helpful to seek help. Especially if it interferes with your normal activities.

BDD symptoms

The following symptoms belong to people who suffer from BDD. There are several symptoms, such as continuing to judge yourself, actually avoiding your reflection and hiding yourself, paying super much attention to your appearance or just being anxious.

Labels include all the time when there is a reflection checking yourself and also that you compare yourself to other people a lot.

When avoiding your reflection, you should actually think about not looking in the mirrors and if you do have to leave spend a lot of time getting your hair and makeup right.

If you pay super much attention to your appearance, it is evident in excessive visits to the gym, dermatologist, beautician, changing your clothes often, following diets, picking at your skin.

This anxiety refers to the fear of being rejected because of one’s appearance, as well as experiencing a panic attack when seeing one’s reflection in the mirror.

People with BDD often also suffer from depression or anxiety disorders, such as social anxiety, contamination anxiety, or OCD.

Straightening your self-image with hypnosis

BDD can be treated with hypnotherapy that includes cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) during hypnosis. Other minor appearance irritations, but which do not immediately mean you have BDD, can also be treated with hypnosis and self-hypnosis.

First, we explore what beliefs you hold about your appearance and how you think other people react to it. For example, people with BDD may think that when they run into someone on the street, that person doesn’t nod or say hello because they’re ugly.

Those beliefs can cause certain behaviors and feelings. In doing so, it is important to learn the irrationality of those beliefs. A hypnotherapist can help you examine the underpinnings of your belief and work with you to determine whether or not it is a logical thought. Should your belief fail the test of logic, the hypnotherapist can help you get a better belief in its place.

Your beliefs can also create certain patterns. Patterns in thoughts and patterns in behavior.

Thought patterns can lead to feelings of anxiety or depression. It’s important to identify and break these patterns.

In addition, behavioral patterns, rituals, can also be broken through hypnotherapy. For example, if your ritual is to first do your hair and then your makeup, this can be reversed to see if the situation changes. Also, new rituals can be installed that have nothing to do with appearance. For example, that before you leave your house you go to the toilet or put away the dishes.

Trace the cause

The cause of a wrong body image does not always have to come from the media and advertising around you. By identifying the cause of beliefs about your appearance, it is also easy to change the beliefs.

In hypnotherapy, regression is often used to identify the root cause of a belief or fear.

Several causes can be identified for wrong body image. Usually these causes can be traced back to childhood.

For example, a perfectionist, shy or anxious child is more likely to have the wrong body image later on. For example, a perfectionist child may care more about advertising and the ideal image and be more likely to want to conform to it than a child who thinks everything is fine.

In addition, teasing in childhood can have a great effect on the psyche that can still affect you as an adult and adolescent. For example, if someone didn't like your clothes.

There may also be more serious underlying causes for BDD, such as abuse or a poor relationship with family and peers. This may have disrupted your psychosocial development if you are currently struggling significantly with a distorted body image.

With hypnotherapy, you can look at these types of events from a distance and figure out how it affected you on your body image.

In addition, the cause can also be fear of adult life and its associated responsibilities. Funnily enough, most people are not treated until 10 to 15 years after diagnosis, that is, between the ages of ³⁰ and ⁴⁰. By then they have long lived an adult life and actually proven that they can handle those responsibilities. If this is the cause, the hypnotherapist can help you eliminate the fears and stop finding a problem with the body just to avoid facing those fears.

Empowering Ego

A negative body image can make you feel very insecure. That’s why it’s important to eliminate that insecurity and strengthen your self-esteem. This can be achieved through hypnotic suggestions that have nothing to do with appearance. These might include, for example:

• I'm smart.
• I'm healthy.
• I'm funny.
• I am a good conversationalist.
• You can have a lot of fun with me.
• I can cook super delicious food.

The ego-strengthening suggestions will vary from person to person because not everyone is the same. These are just a few ego-strengthening examples.

The hypnotic suggestions can also be repeated at home during self-hypnosis. Self-hypnosis can support hypnotherapy and accelerate and enhance its effects.

Would you like to learn more about hypnosis and hypnotherapy? Then check out the seminars and training programs offered by the Hypnosis Institute of the Netherlands.

Sources:

http://www.flair.be/nl/body-mind/170118/nathalie-lijdt-aan-een-zwaar-vertekend-lichaamsbeeld

http://escholarship.org/uc/item/3bz8g1xc