Hypnotizability and weight loss in obese subjects

✍ Scribed by Barabasz, Marianne ;Spiegel, David

• Publisher: Wiley (John Wiley & Sons)
• Year: 1989
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 482 KB
• Volume: 8
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0276-3478
• DOI: 10.1002/1098-108x(198905)8:3<335::aid-eat2260080309>3.0.co;2-o

✦ Synopsis

This study tested the effects of hypnosis for weight control. Hypnotizability was assessed by the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale: Form C (SHSS:C). Forty-five subjects completed the study with examiners who were blind with respect to hypnotizability scores. Subjects exposed to a simple self-management technique and to the Spiegel and Spiegel ( I 978) hypnosis intervention, modified to include specific food aversion, lost significantly more weight at a 3-month follow-up than subjects exposed only to the self-management treatment. The specificity of hypnosis in the program was supported by a significant correlation between weight loss and SHSS:C scores for the same group. Subject attrition was about equal across all treatment groups, suggesting all treatments were perceived as active.

Several clinical and experimental studies emphasizing group treatment have been conducted combining hypnosis and behavioral interventions for weight control (Aja