Someone drew my focus on articles published last year in a respected national newspaper. It was exactly about an overweight woman who lost 8 stone by having a virtual gastric band fitted under hypnosis. What a success story for hypnotherapy! Or could it be?
Folks are becoming increasingly aware of the virtual gastric band. Clients increasingly enquire about virtual gastric band treatment as opposed to hypnotherapy for weight loss. They do this in the belief that their problem could be solved by one session of hypnotherapy and that no subsequent effort on the part is required. They believe, or hope, that the virtual gastric band is a magic wand that may simply make their weight problem disappear. If perhaps it were that simple.
They say, don't they, that there is no such thing as bad publicity system. I've never believed that to be true. Stories which proclaim the success of hypnotherapy are always welcome - but as long as they're credible.
I'd like to start by saying that I'm quite prepared to think that the woman in the article did indeed lose plenty of weight. But the article helps it be pretty clear that this is not attained by virtual gastric band suggestions alone but by adopting the type of radical liquid-through-to-solids diet which may be adopted by a person who had an actual gastric band fitted. The content also says that she had ten sessions of hypnotherapy and that the price of treatment was £270. However I had a consider the website of the practitioner in question. He charges £270 for three sessions, not ten. Quite simply, his fees are £90 per session. If the woman had ten sessions then that could cost her £900. If you look at a few of the readers' comments on the article you will see that the most up-to-date comment hits the nail on the head. The lady lost weight because she adopted a radical diet, not due to some virtual "magic-wand" ;.And when she returns to a "normal" diet, the length of time will the weight stay off for? Most likely not very long.
How are these treatments designed to work? Hypnosis can make your body do some amazing things. Operations could be carried out using only hypnosis as anaesthetic. It is quite conceivable that under hypnosis an individual could be built to feel like a procedure had been performed and a gastric band had been fitted. But when the hypnosis is terminated the client isn't left with a stomach that has somehow been shrunk by hypnosis. They might be told that they may feel like a gastric band has been fitted. But how can they understand what that really feels as though if they've never actually had the operation?
In essence, then, the client is told that their stomach isn't as large as it used to be. It is possible that a highly suggestible client might accept that suggestion and lose weight. But how? By suddenly feeling sick when "too much" food has been eaten? By being confronted with a choice between feeling sickness and discomfort on usually the one hand and hunger on another? But individuals who are suggestible enough to just accept an indication like which can be also ideal subjects of conventional hypnotherapy weight loss treatments. For such people the elaborate hoax of a non-existent surgical operation is not required.
When I first found out about virtual gastric band treatments I knew that I would never offer such treatments because nothing that is based upon a complete lie can ever succeed in the long-term. Reality will always win out.
In terms of I'm aware, virtual gastric band treatments haven't been scientifically scrutinized or tested. I are finding no mention of virtual gastric band treatments in scientific publications such as for example Contemporary Hypnosis or the European Journal of Clinical Hypnosis. There might, therefore, be dangers in the treatment which have not yet arrived at light. Yet I suspect that the main problem is sheer ineffectiveness. Several of my own, personal clients have experienced virtual gastric band treatments and are finding them to be both highly expensive and totally ineffective.
At the conclusion of the day, there are no magic wands. There's one of the ways, and one of the ways only, to reach permanent and lasting weight loss - by making lasting changes to diet and / or exercise regime.
Shortcuts and magical solutions like the virtual gastric band are simply gimmicks. The thing that your virtual gastric band is guaranteed to produce lighter is the purse or your wallet!
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