Control overweight, obesity, binge eating and adopt a healthy lifestyle; quit smoking & alcohol, overcome insomnia and sleep better.
OVERWEIGHT AND OBESITY
Why is therapy of overweight and obesity important?
Overweight and obesity are important lifestyle problems that raise the risk of morbidity from cardiovascular diseases (hypertension, coronary artery disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia), respiratory problems, gallbladder disease, some forms of cancer, and osteoarthritis (Jensen et al. 2013).
Therapy for overweight and obesity
Treatment of overweight and obesity consists of general measures – like a (preferably life-long) change of eating habits using behaviour therapy, dietary therapy and a long-term increase of physical activity – and medical (pharmacotherapy, for example with sibutramine or orlistat) and surgical therapy, such as a reduction of the capacity of the stomach or a gastric bypass (Nammi et al. 2004).
Psychotherapy and Medical Hypnosis
Cognitive-behavioural Therapy (CBT)
Cognitive-behavioural strategies include
- self-monitoring of eating habits and physical activity
- stress management
- stimulus control
- problem solving
- contingency management (token economy and voucher programs)
- cognitive restructuring
- social support
(National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute 1998).
Treating obesity with a combination of hypnosis and CBT is considered an empirically supported psychological intervention (Chambless and Ollendick 2001). Adding hypnosis to cognitive-behavioural therapy substantially enhances the treatment outcome for obesity, even at 2-year follow-up (Kirsch et al. 1995).
Smoking is one of the lifestyle issues that damages our health considerably. Effective methods in quit smoking therapy are behavioral therapy, motivational interviewing, medical hypnosis, counseling, and medication. Medical hypnosis is used to increase the motivation to stop and to support behavioural change, and to cope with withdrawal symptoms.
If you want to know more about the effects of smoking, read our blog post.
Read more about the most effective methods to quit smoking.
INSOMNIA AND OTHER SLEEP PROBLEMS
Therapy for insomnia includes techniques from cognitive-behavioral therapy, medical hypnosis and other relaxation methods:
- Sleep hygiene education
- Stress management
- Cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I)
- Medical hypnosis including self-hypnosis for relaxation and hypnotic sleep script with positive suggestions regarding sleep
- Sleep scheduling technique
- Sleep restriction technique
- Various relaxation techniques such as progressive muscle relaxation and abdominal breathing
Read more about insomnia.