Woman with Selective Eating Disorder uses hypnosis to help cure her problem
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A woman who lived on just CHIPS for 15 years - and was terrified of all other food - is hypnotised into eating her first proper meal according to the Dail Mail.
As ever they are reporting the story with all the bells and whistles that they enjoy, including a picture of the hypnotherapist with a pendulum!
Whilst it’s not quite like they show you can at least learn that it is possible to change habits in a quick and easy way. I would never say that anyone can leave behind all the bad habits in one session but the Mail don’t actually tell us how many sessions she has now had. Here is their story..
A woman who lived on a diet of chips for 15 years has finally eaten a proper meal - after being hypnotised to overcome her debilitating fear of food.
Hanna Little, 20, has eaten chips every day since she was five years old - after she developed a fear of all other foods which made her physically sick if she tried to eat them.
Hanna from Truro, Cornwall, has severe Selective Eating Disorder (SED) and would suffer anxiety attacks at the thought of eating anything new.
Hanna Little, 20, has eaten chips every day since she was five years old, when she developed a fear of all other foods. But one hypnotherapy session changed her life
Hanna could never eat with her friends, had to check menus before visiting restaurants and was in a constant panic about how she would react to new foods.
It was only when she was forced to quit her factory job after she kept passing out due to her limited diet that she was forced to take action.
Now after just one hypnotherapy session, she has managed to battle her demons - and has eaten her first proper meal - pizza - in more than a decade.
Hanna said: 'Refusing foods started when I developed colic as a baby - I've had SED for as long as I can remember - I never really knew what scared me about new food.
'Different foods terrified me, it made me physically sick and anxious and I never knew how I would react. I would go to parties, picnics and barbecues with my friends but I would never be able to eat anything. I think I can eat chips because they're just plain - it was the idea of different flavours mixing together which really freaked me out. I could manage a slice of dry toast for breakfast, but lunch and dinner every day always had to be chips. Now I can eat whatever I like - my favourite food is pizza - I could never have imagined being able to eat it before the treatment but now I love it.'
Hanna's mum tried to tempt her with new vegetables and fruits but would be forced to bulk buy chips and bread from the supermarket when she continually failed.
Hanna said: 'When I was old enough to date I went to my boyfriend's house for dinner but I hadn't told him about my SED.
'The hypnotherapy treatment was amazing, I was so restricted before and now I can live a normal life. I feel so much healthier and I am putting weight on - I have so much more energy and I feel much happier'
'His mum made me an incredible pasta bake meal and I couldn't eat a bite of it - I pretended that I was allergic to tomato sauce - it was so embarrassing.
'Everyone I spoke to had no idea what it was and just though I was odd - I didn't find out about Selective Eating Disorder until I was 16.'
Hanna visited Clinical hypnotist Felix Economakis who explained 'SED is usually caused by a trauma associated with food - it is often something that has happened as a baby that the patient has no conscious memory of.
'The fear of food stems from this trauma and the anxiety associated with it. By unlocking the subconscious I can get the patient to process the past and learn to let go of the fear - detraumatising the experience.'
Felix says the results of the therapy are immediately measurable and, with 90 per cent of the SED patients he has worked with, hypnosis treatment has been incredibly effective
'The hypnosis process takes just over an hour and at the end of the session Hanna was able to try several types of new food without anxiety.
'The result of the therapy is immediately measurable and with 90 per cent of the SED patients I have worked with, hypnosis treatment has been incredibly effective.'
Hanna said: 'I'd seen so many dieticians and psychologists before I went for hypnotherapy but nothing had worked.
'I could feel my health deteriorating and I knew I had to do something about it - that's when I met Felix and he told me about hypnotherapy treatments.
'The first thing I ate after the hypnotherapy was a mango - it was so sweet and delicious and it is now my favourite fruit. The hypnotherapy treatment was amazing, I was so restricted before and now I can live a normal life. I feel so much healthier and I am putting weight on - I have so much more energy and I feel much happier.'
If you would like to speak to me in confidence about any issues that you have with food and eating then you can call me on 07980 233160 or email me at [email protected]
What is SELECTIVE EATING DISORDER?
SED is also known as picky eating, fussy eating, food phobia, selective eating, or Perseverative Feeding Disorder.
It is more common among those within the autistic spectrum and in combination with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
It starts in childhood or early adolescence and the most common cause of SED is a development of extra sensitive taste sensation, which is caused by an increase in fungiform papilla – taste buds - throughout childhood.
Typically the food preferred by an SED sufferer are ‘comfort foods’ – bland and refined foods, high in carbohydrates – such as pizza, cheese and chips, often from particular brands or food outlets.
The types of food will be restricted to ten or less with extreme cases only eating one or two types of food.
SED sufferers can get psychiatric help such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and other treatments for OCD which have been successful as well as Hypnotherapy which can reduce the stress associated and help to break the bas habits.
