PCOS: How Hypnosis Can Help

A number of PCOS issues are associated with your mental and emotional state, including:

Weight loss difficulties.
Depression.
Lack of self-esteem.
Chronic stress.
Food cravings.
Difficulty in following a healthy diet or exercising.
Sleep difficulties.

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Could hypnosis play a helpful role in minimizing these problems? Could it change your behavior so that you could lose weight, have a more positive attitude, or be able to follow a good diet?

What Is Hypnosis?

Hypnosis is a mental state or set of attitudes usually induced by a procedure known as a hypnotic induction.

Hypnotic induction is a series of preliminary instructions and suggestions. You don't go unconscious. You're actually in a wakeful state of focused attention and heightened suggestibility with diminished peripheral awareness.

The use of hypnotism for therapeutic purposes is called hypnotherapy.

Hypnosis Could Improve Your Experience of Weight Loss While on a PCOS Diet

Investigators from Tufts-New England Medical Center have determined in a study of four popular diets that the key to successful weight loss is not the diet itself, but actually following the diet!

In this one-year study of 160 overweight adults, the researchers split people into four diet groups: Weight Watchers (low calorie); The Zone Diet (low glycemic index); The Ornish Diet (low fat); and The Atkins Diet (low carb).

The researchers discovered that all of these diets worked when the participants in the study followed them. The problem is that less than one in four were able to stay on their given diet for just this one year.

So instead of trying one diet after another and giving up each time, hypnosis offers a safe and effective way for you to stick to your eating plan.

We recommend the Enjoying Weight Loss Program by Dr. Roberta Temes if excess weight is a problem for you. Dr. Temes is the author of the first hypnosis textbook used in medical schools.

Also, it makes a lot more sense to find a safe way to adhere to a healthy diet, such as the diet described in The Natural Diet Solution for PCOS and Infertility.

How to Improve Self-Confidence and Self-Esteem

Body image and self-esteem is a huge and under-recognized issue for women with polycystic ovary syndrome.

There is the issue of appearance: excess belly fat, acne, hirsutism (too much hair), and hair loss.
Your self-esteem can suffer if you are not able to conceive.
There is the issue of depression or moodiness.

A better diet, regular exercise, nutritional supplements and natural therapies such as acupuncture can help with some of these PCOS-related problems.

Another therapy you can consider for improving your self-confidence and self-esteem is a hypnotherapy program such as the Core Inner Strength Program by Dr. Shirley McNeal. Dr. McNeal has over 30 years experience as a practicing psychotherapist and is the author or co-author of over 20 scientific papers.

PCOS, Hair Loss, Stress and Hypnosis

Could hypnosis relieve hair loss? There's not much research on hypnotherapy for hair loss but we did come across one very interesting study from the Academic Hospital UZ Brussel in Belgium.

The hospital studied twenty eight people with extensive alopecia areata, which is an autoimmune disease leading to loss of scalp hair. The disease seems triggered by stress. They were treated with hypnotherapy, which combined symptom-oriented suggestions with suggestions to improve self-esteem.

Twelve out of 21 patients, including 4 with total loss of scalp hair, had significant hair growth. All patients presented a significant decrease in scores for anxiety and depression.

The researchers reported that their results "demonstrate that hypnotic interventions may ameliorate the clinical outcome of patients with alopecia areata and may improve their psychological well-being".

Chronic stress not only plays a role in alopecia areata, but also has also been shown to worsen PCOS symptoms.

Chronic stress is invisible. You can't see it, taste it, or smell it. You may not even be aware of it. Yet it can be devastating if not brought under control.

There is a link between chronic stress and problems associated with PCOS, including weight gain, belly fat, eating disorders, reduced fertility, miscarriage, premature or lower weight births, chronic inflammation, and ovarian cysts.

Stress management is a crucial component of any successful treatment of polycystic ovarian syndrome.

So, what are you doing to reduce stress? We recommend you take a look at Managing Stress and Anxiety by Dr. Randy Gilchrest. In addition to the CD, you'll get Dr. Gilchrist's 33-page ebook, "Coping With Stress and Anxiety System".

Hypnotic therapy helps you improve your ability to handle stress Plus, it's very easy to do!

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