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Not as far-fetched as you think. Visualize yourself feet up, resting comfortably on the family boat, bathed in warm sunlight and gently drifting down a serene river. Creating such a pleasant image in your mind’s eye isn’t just relaxing, it may also be the first step toward dropping those unwanted pounds. And it’s a technique that some experts say can be particularly effective for children. Recently, the American Academy of Pediatrics lauded hypnosis as a tool that can help children deal with invasive medical procedures, while a doctor at Mount Sinai’s School of Medicine reported that hypnosis helped children with anxiety, asthma and bedwetting. For decades, adults have been turning to hypnosis for help with a variety of problems, from quitting smoking to losing weight, and now some are saying that hypnotherapy may be another way to help curb the growing trend of childhood obesity. It worked for the Smiths Teresa Smith of Anaheim and her 16-year-old son, Devon, signed up for a 16-week hypnotherapy weight-loss program to follow up on a New Year’s resolution they both made. By July, the pair had dropped a combined total of nearly 30 pounds, and although they haven’t reached their ultimate goals yet, the program has resulted in positive lifestyle changes for their entire family, says Teresa. “It’s different around our house now. It used to be all about food. Now it’s about activities like swimming, taking the dogs for a walk or going to the field to play ball. Hypnosis brings the stress level down and takes the focus off food,” she shares. How does hypnotherapy work? Unlike the TV shows, it does not involve ridiculous or embarrassing behavior, but instead, you make subtle, healthy changes to your lifestyle as a result of regular, subconscious suggestions. The first step is a personal consultation to ensure that a person is actually suitable for hypnotherapy, then client and therapist mutually agree on goals. The actual treatment is a combination of hypnosis sessions, personal coaching and nutritional education conducted at weekly meetings. Additionally, clients use a “pathfinder system”: goggles outfitted with LED lights that coordinate with a CD of beat tones, music and hypnotic suggestions that they listen to daily at home. Other audiotapes that help clients focus on weekly goals are also part of the program. “We essentially retrain the subconscious into habits designed for weight loss,” explains Jim Proser of Healthier Living Centers in Fullerton. “To desire more water, leave 10% of their food on the plate, and to enjoy and anticipate exercise. When we help them retrain their subconscious, they don’t have any struggles with will power.” Smith says it was slowgoing for she and her son in the beginning. “But now I’ve learned skills that I can adapt to other parts of my life. Most importantly, I learned to look at food as more of a survival tool than a coping mechanism for every time I got stressed, depressed or angry.” One of the keys to the Smiths’ successful hypnosis is their ability to visualize, says Proser. In fact, some experts say that children make the best candidates for hypnotherapy, thanks to their active imaginations. Researchers have documented successful hypnosis treatments with children as young as 3 years old. Yet, despite the growing obesity epidemic, hypnosis for weight loss is not a widely recognized option for children. At Healthier Living Centers, most children only come in as a result of their parents’ success. Although Proser says he has seen a half-dozen success stories among children 9 and older in the past year. “We’ve had very dramatic results with adults and we’re just starting to help children,” he says. Hypnosis isn’t the solution for everybody Hypnosis may be the answer for some, but it probably won’t put a dent in the national obesity epidemic, says Dr. Dan Cooper, a professor of pediatrics at UC Irvine and director of UCI’s General Clinical Research Center. “There’s no quick fix. Childhood obesity is a tough problem that involves many factors: too much cheap, high-calorie food, advertising to children and not enough physical activity, to name a few,” he says. “My feeling is that it doesn’t hurt to try hypnosis. Maybe it will work for some kids. When parents have the means, there are a lot of things they can try.” In addition to not being widely recognized, hypnotherapy can be an expensive treatment for weight loss. Fees for such a program are usually based on the estimated time it will take a client to lose the desired amount of weight, and even at a steady pace of 1 to 3 pounds per week, the cost could easily soar into the thousands. However, when you think about the costs overweight children are paying at younger ages each year – Type II diabetes, liver disease and hypertension – it may be an investment worth considering. Michele Piazzoni is a regular contributor to OC Family Magazine. |
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