Bulimia. Any ideas?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Katherine Zimmerman on August 27, 2008 at 7:14am

Daryl,

It would be helpful to know what you have done so far. Regression? Parts Therapy? Metaphors? Direct suggestion? Do you use EFT? That could help on a number of levels including helping her to "let go."

Katherine Zimmerman
www.trancetime.com

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Scott Sandland on August 27, 2008 at 7:37am

I would contact Kim Manning, as this is one of her specialties. I believe she is a member of this site.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Jonathan Altfeld on August 27, 2008 at 9:33am

Here's an NLP-style suggestion for showing someone how to choose more healthy choices. I'm not a therapist or psycho-therapist, so this is NOT the advice of anyone licensed to "treat" this disease. So following this advice would never cure anyone of Bulimia (even if your client never binged or purged again, none of this would actually "treat or cure" Bulimia).

Study in extraordinary detail the difference between when she chooses to eat healthy, vs when she chooses to binge. There may be something very unique about that specific "choice-point." By choice-point, we're referring to the moment when she begins the binge-purge cycle. A therapist might prefer to examine in gory detail all the reasons she's diseased. An NLP approach wouldn't waste much time on that historical baggage if resolving things more directly in the present, would work well.

So, at that choice-point, unconsciously, she chooses one eating behavior, or the other. Sometimes she chooses to eat healthy. Sometimes she chooses to binge. It's possible that, when she's eating healthy, she's experiencing one (or one set of) emotions / emotional resources. And when she chooses to binge, she's experiencing a different emotion or set of emotions / emotional resources. Many bulimics may very well have only one emotional choice point which kickstarts their unresourceful behavior. Some may have more than one emotional choice point -- different situations that trigger the binge/purge cycle.

If you can identify the critical difference / differences from one emotion/set to the other, then it might then be useful to do a timeline exercise where you have her anchor in an overwhelming sense of all the RESOURCEFUL emotional anchors... stacked together. So that she can, at will, feel the way she wants to, when in the past she's chosen to eat healthy.

Then in the timeline exercise, have her go through her past, re-experiencing all the unresourceful binge-purge situations she can remember, but this time, visualize them happening differently for her by firing off the emotionally positive anchors you've helped her develop. Once she feels there's been a sufficient difference that she can measure & experience, then future pace her into experiencing those dreaded 'choice-points' in her future, when she might HAVE chosen to binge/purge, but feeling all the (anchor, anchor anchor) positive feelings that tell her its time to choose health, and visualizing herself eating positively.

You could conceivably end her years of bulimia in just one session. Not great for a hypnotherapist's income, but GREAT for a client!

Regards,

- Jonathan Altfeld

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Daryl Wilkinson on August 28, 2008 at 7:35pm

Thanks for your reply Katherine. My client has been to quite a few therapist if one sort or another and feels Hypnotherapy is her last resort. She is very clear on her reason for starting. Ex husband who wanted the perfect wife and the mind games he used to play etc. The whole routine has become a such a habit now. She knows exactly what and why she is doing it. While she prepares and eats eats healthy food, she will then, in addition, "stuff herself with junk food" for comfort knowing that it doesn't matter as she will get rid of it in a few hours and it will have no impact on her weight. We have done regression, direct suggestion, EFT and metaphors and even - something that I usually won't do - aversion therapy! Haven't done Parts Therapy yet, that is next. Also I am preparing a recording for her to play morning and night. I must say she looks fine and one would not suspect that she had a problem.At the end of the last session she talked about just wanting a switch to turn it off. ( I'll do that next session!)

Thanks again,
Daryl

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Daryl Wilkinson on August 28, 2008 at 7:36pm

Thanks Scott.
Daryl

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Daryl Wilkinson on August 28, 2008 at 7:39pm

Thanks Jonathan for your wise words. I will try to incorporate the process.
Regards Daryl

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Kelley Woods on August 30, 2008 at 7:12am

Just a thought...often, eating disorders manifest due to supressed anger. Instead of continuing to "stuff" her emotions, perhaps a bout of chair therapy to give her opportunity to express them may be helpful. A bulimic client of mine had great success with this technique; she was finally able to tell her love-withholding parent how she really felt, allowing her inner child to stop throwing eating tantrums.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Daryl Wilkinson on August 30, 2008 at 5:03pm

Thanks Kelley. Without going into great detail, my client's personal circumstances - single mother in a really difficult financial and living situation - is such that she really needs to escape in order to take control in EVERY way. She also really wants a loving relationship. Her junk eating/bulimia seems to be the only outlet for her. I have been encouraging her to engage in some outside activities like dancing etc to distract her and put herself "out there", but of course that means she needs to look "attractive" and so the weight issue comes up. (She does look great BTW)
I will also try the 'chair'. This has to be one of the most challenging cases I have had.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Lee Darrow on September 1, 2008 at 12:37pm

One thing that I would go for, for certain, is a medical referral in a case like this. If her teeth have suffered damage, then her esophageal lining has also probably suffered damage and may need to be examined as well for ulcerations and even pre-cancerous or even cancerous conditions. Bile is highly acidic and can cause severe damage to the esophagus, especially over long-term, repeated exposure, as anyone with gastro-esophageal reflux disruptive syndrome (gerds) knows.

If the teeth have taken damage, then it's a good bet that the esophagus has also taken damage.

Once you have the referral and she's gotten a workup, then work with her.

Safety first.

Lee Darrow, C.H.
www.stagehypnosissafetyclass.com

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Philco on September 1, 2008 at 1:54pm

Hi Daryl - I'm afraid I cannot help you from a Hypnotherapy point-of-view, but I'll throw my two-cents worth of psychoanalytical babble into the hat and see if a rabbit pops out.

It goes without saying that you should regard my comments as being very general, as I have not met your patient!

In my experience there can be many many factors involved in the gorge/purge cycle, not least repitition. In this case the fact that she sleeps for a few hours then purges (presumably by vomiting) really highlights that she is probably repeating an experience from (very) early childhood - an "acting out" as it were. Freud posited that such repeating is an attempt to "heal" a trauma, usually by bleeding off some of the energy. Typically this involves the repressed memory of a traumatic event.

And remember she is getting a lot of pleasure from this symptom, irrespective of her desire to rid herself of it. The pleasure is probably in the form of a release of tension.

From what you write, she sounds quite obsessional. Might be worth asking her about her early life / family -- but tread carefully!

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Daryl Wilkinson on September 1, 2008 at 1:55pm

Thanks Lee. Good advice. I don't often need referrals for my work, but this is one case where I should get one as her life may be in danger.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Daryl Wilkinson on September 3, 2008 at 6:02am

Thanks Philco, what a great group! So much good knowledge and experience on offer. I think much of what you say is spot on. Without a doubt she is obsessional and with a history of over 20 years repetition must play a huge part. I also agree that she must be getting pleasure from it also. Breaking the pattern and refocus on positives is my main concern.

• ▶ Reply

▶ Reply to Discussion

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• Next ›
• Page