Hypnotherapy for overweight and obese patients: A narrative review

Obesity and overweight problems are serious global health issues today and despite many efforts, the prevalence has continued to rise for decades. Interestingly, hypnotherapy has been gaining recognition as an effective treatment for obesity and overweight problems. This review compiles contemporary scientific research on the effectiveness of hypnotherapy for weight reduction. Scopus, PubMed and EBSCO Host databases were applied in the study. The search identified 119 articles, of which seven met the inclusion criteria. A total of 539 respondents (82.7% women and 17.3% men) between the ages of 17 and 67 years were represented in the seven studies. Most studies incorporated lifestyle changes, such as changes of dietary habit and behavioral recommendations in the hypnotic procedure. Their results suggested that the use of hypnotherapy not only promoted weight reduction during the treatment period but also after treatment cessation, and in some cases, one to ten kilograms were lost during follow-up periods. In addition, one study even showed increased physical activity among the hypnotised individuals. This use of hypnotherapy also improved respondents' eating behavior and quality of life. However, a definitive conclusion could not be drawn due to several methodological flaws and the limited number of published studies in this area. Therefore, further well-designed studies are needed to substantiate the effectiveness of hypnotherapy for this modern-day health problem. Please cite this article as: Roslim NA, Ahmad A, Mansor M, Aung MMT, Hamzah F, Hassan H, Lua PL. Hypnotherapy for overweight and obese patients: A narrative review. J Integr Med. 2021; 19(1): 1-5. (c) 2020 Shanghai Changhai Hospital. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This review summarises the recognition of hypnotherapy as an effective treatment for weight reduction based on contemporary scientific research. The studies found that hypnotherapy can promote weight loss, improve eating behavior and quality of life, and even increase physical activity among individuals. However, due to methodological flaws and limited research in this area, a definitive conclusion on the effectiveness of hypnotherapy for obesity and overweight cannot be drawn, highlighting the need for further well-designed studies.