Does hypnosis work for weight loss?

Short answer: it can help, especially alongside other approaches, but it isn’t magic, and anyone who promises guaranteed results is overselling it.

I’ve spent my career cutting through the myths about hypnosis, so here’s an honest summary of what the research says.

What the research says

In 1996 the psychologist Irving Kirsch looked again at studies where people had cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for weight loss, with or without hypnosis added. He found that people who also had hypnosis tended to lose more weight, and kept losing after treatment ended.

In the same year, David Allison and Myles Faith reanalysed similar studies and found the extra benefit of hypnosis was much smaller once some calculation errors were corrected and one unusual study was taken out. Both papers agree on the direction, but not on how big the effect is.

More recently, a small study at the University of Hull compared gastric band hypnosis with ordinary relaxation hypnosis and found no real difference between them. That’s one reason I no longer use the gastric band name.

What this means for you

• Hypnosis works best as part of a wider change, not on its own
• It seems to help most with the habits and feelings around food
• Results vary a lot from person to person
• Claims of instant results, guarantees or success rates should make you cautious

Who it suits

In my experience, hypnotherapy suits people who already know roughly what they should be eating, but find themselves doing something different: snacking, eating for comfort, losing motivation after a few weeks. If that sounds like you, it may be worth a try. If you want a quick fix without changing anything, it probably isn’t.