Gordon Cochrane and John Friesen of the Department of Counselling Psychology at the University of British Columbia, conducted a research study that was published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. There have been previous reports of the effectiveness of hypnotherapy when used to treat obesity; however, they were not substantiated by any controlled research studies until Cochrane & Friesen (1986).
Findings
The conclusions drawn from this controlled study supported Cochrane’s original hypothesis. The group receiving hypnotherapy and the group receiving hypnotherapy plus audiotapes to use at home lost comparable amounts of weight. Subjects in the control group lost significantly less. According to the results, hypnotherapy was the key element facilitating weight loss. The margin of difference between the hypnosis only and the hypnosis plus audiotapes group was insignificant. Subjects in both those groups lost significantly more weight than those in the control group.
Notably, educational level, economic level and age of the subject at the onset of obesity did not appear to be possible causative factors. Cochrane’s well-controlled study provides empirical evidence in favour of the use of hypnotherapy as an effective treatment option for obese individuals.
The conclusions suggest that future research studies should focus on hypnotherapeutic techniques as applied to clients with specific characteristics.
You can read a compete article on teh research here