Cognitive Therapy
CBT and Weight Loss
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is a way of talking about:
How you think about yourself, the world and other people.
How what you do affects your thoughts and feelings.
CBT can help you to change how you think ('Cognitive') and what you do ('Behaviour'). These changes can help you to feel better. Unlike some of the other talking treatments, it focuses on the 'here and now' problems and difficulties. Instead of focusing on the causes of your distress or symptoms in the past, it looks for ways to improve your state of mind now.
The diet industry in Britain is a multi-billion pound industry. The problem with both dieting and exercise programmes is that, on their own, they do not work with the underlying reasons why people constantly lose weight only to regain it and end up with a larger body mass index than at the start.
At any one time, it is estimated that over two thirds of British women in total are on a slimming regime.
Scientific research shows that patterns of comfort eating of high carbohydrate and fat rich foods begin in childhood where stress and emotional pain and their concomitant reduction of these chemicals in the brain (cortisol, serotonin uptake, endorphin or natural morphine response in the brain, noradrenal) are greatly reduced after eating high calorie, high fat foods.
Childhood behaviour patterns to reduce stress and emotional pain are carried through into adulthood, and are reinforced because they are effective in the short term in reducing the symptoms associated with low mood. This is one of the reasons many people over-eat.
In a society which over-emphasises slimness as the way to success, love and personal happiness, even in childhood, the relationship between self worth and a positive self image are strongly correlated with body image, and problems begin with the internalisation of these values with their relationship and meaning of food in itself.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Weight Loss
CBT is more effective than diet and exercise regimes on their own because it works at the underlying core issues which perpetuate these gain loss cycles. By treating the underlying causes of these patterns clients are understandably less prone to relapse.
Areas which underly these cyclical patterns in weight fluctuation are:
Self Esteem issues
problems of self worth, self esteem.
Body dimorphism
a self image which has a distorted picture of how one physically appears to others.
Stress related problems
difficulty in providing alternative strategies for coping with anxiety and depression.
Social anxiety
Specific problems socially related to self-consciousness in social situations.
Feminist issues
Relationship issues with men/women in the physical/sexual presentation of the self.
Unresolved Childhood Trauma - Childhood problems which have been unresolved and make maturation into adulthood more difficult.
These are just a few of the underlying problems which cause people to overeat. WLC can address all your emotional issues and break down your personal barriers to Weight Loss.
Book your free consultation now weightloss@opendoors-lifecoaching.co.uk 07849342389
