Someone drew my attention to articles published this past year in a number one national newspaper. It had been exactly about an overweight woman who lost 8 stone having a virtual gastric band fitted under hypnosis. Exactly what a success story for hypnotherapy! Or is it?
Individuals are becoming increasingly aware of the virtual gastric band. Clients increasingly enquire about virtual gastric band treatment rather than hypnotherapy for weight loss. They do this in the belief that their problem may 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'll simply make their weight problem disappear. Only if it were that simple.
They say, don't they, that there is no such thing as bad publicity. I've never thought that to be true. Stories which proclaim the success of hypnotherapy are usually welcome - but only if they're credible.
Allow me to start with saying that I'm quite prepared to trust that the woman in the content did indeed lose a lot of weight. But the content causes it to be pretty clear that this was not accomplished by virtual gastric band suggestions alone but by adopting the sort of radical liquid-through-to-solids diet which will be adopted by an individual who had a real gastric band fitted. The article also says that she'd ten sessions of hypnotherapy and that the price of treatment was £270. However I'd a consider the website of the practitioner in question percentage. He charges £270 for three sessions, not ten. In other words, his fees are £90 per session. If the woman had ten sessions then that would cost her £900. If you appear at some of the readers' comments on the content you might find that the most up-to-date comment hits the nail on the head. The girl lost weight because she adopted a radical diet, not due to some virtual "magic-wand" ;.And when she returns to a "normal" diet, how long will the weight stay off for? Not likely very long.
How are these treatments supposed to work? Hypnosis may make the body do some amazing things. Operations may be carried out using only hypnosis as anaesthetic. It's quite conceivable that under hypnosis a person could be designed to feel as if a procedure have been performed and a gastric band have been fitted. But once the hypnosis is terminated the client is not left with a belly which includes somehow been shrunk by hypnosis. They could be told that they will feel as if a gastric band has been fitted. But just how do they know what that truly is like if they've never actually had the operation?
Basically, then, the client is told that their stomach is not as large as it used to be. It's possible that the 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 an option between feeling sickness and discomfort on usually the one hand and hunger on the other? But people that are suggestible enough to accept an indicator 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 simply not required.
When I first found out about virtual gastric band treatments I knew that I could not offer such treatments because nothing that is based upon an overall total lie can ever be effective 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 have discovered no mention of virtual gastric band treatments in scientific publications such as for instance Contemporary Hypnosis or the European Journal of Clinical Hypnosis. There might, therefore, be dangers in the therapy which have not even arrive at light. Yet I suspect that the main problem is sheer ineffectiveness. Many of my own, personal clients have experienced virtual gastric band treatments and have discovered them to be both highly expensive and totally ineffective.
At the conclusion of your day, there are no magic wands. There's one way, and one way only, to achieve 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 only thing which the virtual gastric band is guaranteed to make lighter can be your purse or your wallet!
