Case_Study

ABSTRACT: This was a study to help Miss K lose weight. Miss K was seen on four separate sessions. Miss K was mostly visual in modality but also auditory. The results showed that after four sessions Miss K had lost 7lbs, was going to the gym more regularly and felt healthier in general. INTRODUCTION & INITIAL CONSULTATION: Miss K is a 28 year old Personal Injury Solicitor and has had issues with her weight for as long as she can remember. Miss K has never been clinically overweight, and has always been in the normal body mass index range. Miss K is 5'9 and weighs 11 stone (154lbs) with a body mass index (BMI) of 22.7, which is healthy, yet she feels that she would look better if she lost around 7-14lbs. The healthy BMI range is between 18.5 – 25, therefore even if Miss K lost her maximum target weight of 14lbs, this would give her a BMI of 20.7 which is still in the healthy range. Miss K has found that when she is happy in life she eats a lot, yet doesn't seem to mind gaining weight, but when she is unhappy she struggles to eat and this is when she loses weight. Miss K has been in a fairly turbulent relationship for the past 2 years, and due to her boyfriend's controlling nature, she has lost a lot of confidence in herself. Miss K's boyfriend tends to put her down a lot and focuses on her weight by calling her names. Miss K completed an initial consultation form (Appendix 2) and I read to her a brief outline of the ethics involved in the therapy (Appendix 2) and asked her if she had any questions relating to hypnosis or the procedure involved. I also made Miss K aware of the importance of having realistic goals and to not expect to lose her target amount of weight in too short a period of time. It was not necessary for me to obtain a letter from Miss K's G.P, and I ensured I had my tutors permission to work with Miss K. DIAGNOSIS: Miss K has extremely low confidence and self-esteem. Her reasons for wanting to lose weight are not for health factors, but because she believes it will help boost her ego and will please her boyfriend. The names that she has been called by her boyfriend and his treatment of her has penetrated Miss K's belief system and has become a core reason why she has self-esteem issues and isn't happy with her weight. I believe that I have the capability to help Miss K lose weight and gain some confidence, but I do not have enough knowledge to help counsel Miss K with her deep rooted insecurities and for this reason I would advise Miss K to seek professional help from a specialist to help her to overcome these issues. TREATMENT PLAN: My aim is to help Miss K lose weight and gain more confidence in herself within four sessions. I also aim to implement direct suggestions to encourage Miss K to maintain any weight loss she may achieve during her treatment. I plan to begin with a hypnosis script that will hopefully work by motivating for eating better, exercising and visualising a healthy body. Weight loss is a complex problem so I will aim to develop scripts that utilise the power of direct hypnotic suggestions, hypnotic metaphors and visualisation.