If you are interested in psychotherapy excess weight, then this publication is for you. Psychosomatics is an interesting science, because psychology can overcome the psychological causes of obesity at different stages. Also find out what kind of counseling is provided for people with this problem.

Millions of people are involved in the fight against excess weight. In this unequal battle, many lose, moving from the stage of obesity to the category of obese. Most people try to recover by following diets and exercise, without thinking about the sources of the disease. You can help in this matter based on psychosomatics, and psychotherapy offers to get rid of problems.

Psychological causes of excess weight

Psychosomatics experts believe that obesity has more serious reasons than an incorrectly formulated diet or a sedentary lifestyle. Each person is individual, so he determines his own comfortable body weight.

Statistics show that hereditary and hormonal influences, organic disorders are not the main factors influencing excess weight. Psychosomatics deals with helping to understand one’s own perception of the world, based on the data of one’s body.

Psychological causes of excess weight
Seizing problems	The presence of personal discomfort. The joy of eating food drowns out any unpleasant emotions.
Remorse	Having committed an unworthy act, a person feels guilty. Extinguishes the feeling with alcohol, smoking or overeating.
Imitating parents	Some believe that the family tradition should not be abolished: if the ancestors were overweight, then the next generation should not watch their figure.
Strength of will	Weakness in denying yourself tasty things, which does not allow you to pass by bakeries with an alluring aroma, confectionery departments or McDonald's.
Lack of interests	Having no hobbies, friends, or hobbies, many simply wrap themselves in a robe and eat to diversify their boring lives.
No motivation	If a person underestimates his own importance and does not see the point in losing weight, he continues to gain excess weight by consuming unnecessary calories.
Fear of sexual intimacy	Fat deposits that form in women in the abdominal area indicate a fear of relationships.

Psychotherapy helps patients cope with depression and anxiety associated with gaining excessive weight.

Psychosomatics of obesity

It has been proven that the main percentage of all diseases have psychological causes. Psychosomatics explains that abdominal obesity is a protection against stress, suffering, and fear. Jamming negative emotions temporarily suspends emotional experiences.

Such people are characterized by:

• internal twitching;
• vulnerability;
• loneliness;
• feeling of imperfection.

The psychosomatics of obesity looks at the disease as an external manifestation of various psychological problems. A person himself regulates hormonal imbalance and metabolic rate in his body. He unconsciously controls all processes.

The current state of the problem of obesity requires pathogenetic schemes of psychotherapy as the method of choice in the development of the disease.

Psychotherapy and psychology of excess weight

Psychology is a science that deals with the structure inner world and can help in revising eating behavior. The point of treatment is to bring the body and soul into balance, to forever get rid of the factors that prevent you from being healthy, slim and happy.

Weight loss psychotherapy has several areas:

• identifying the onset of excess body weight;
• actions to eliminate interfering factors for weight loss;
• the ability to hear and feel the true needs of your body;
• normalization of eating behavior;
• formation of a new way of life;
• recording results.

Psychotherapists try to explain to their patients the connection between behavior, thoughts and weight. Instill that obesity is a symptom that is the tip of the iceberg of a person’s inner world.

The founder of the self-help movement, Louise Hay, in her tables of possible factors of obesity, points out fears and the need for protection. The psychology of excess weight includes the eternal search for the meaning of life and the inability to self-realize, which leads to illness.

The American offers psychotherapy in the form of healing self-hypnosis formulas for every cause of obesity that psychosomatics can help identify.

Doctor's opinion

If a person experiences constant dissatisfaction with himself, this can lead to an increase in fat on the thighs and abdomen. When you are not happy with the way some part of your body looks, your body adds fat there, comforting the owner. To understand how to lose weight, you first need to see yourself thin, draw your inner image. Without this you won't be able to reset overweight. Psychotherapy consists of thinking about what number you need to reach when losing weight and trying to imagine yourself in a new body. Any changes must take place without internal resistance.

Psychological counseling for people with obesity

Many obese patients are interested in ways to change their figure. It can help such people psychological counseling experienced specialists. Since excessive weight is based on psychosomatics, they offer unique psychotherapy.

Almost all experts believe that the body under stress is not able to adequately control hunger and satiety, so a person experiences a constant feeling of malnutrition or an unwillingness to eat at all.

Psychological counseling for people with obesity has several areas:

• prevention of the use of various dietary restrictions;
• studying the negative manifestations of perfectionism;
• correction of personal anxiety;
• a psychological diet, the essence of which comes down to a serious revision of the attitude towards your diet and overeating.

For each case, psychotherapy sessions are held individually, but changes occur after the first sessions. A person monitors his weight himself and decides when to refuse the help of doctors.

In order to lose weight correctly and harmlessly, you need to combine personal work on yourself with the recommendations of specialists, then losing weight will be as comfortable as possible. Say no to excess weight and start leading correct image life.

The appearance of excess weight, if the cause of its gain is not endocrine diseases and hormonal disorders, is almost always associated with psychological discomfort and a negative mental perception of one’s own life.

To treat obesity and eliminate extra pounds, it is important to conduct a kind of excursion into the depths of your own subconscious, identify the factors that provoke excess weight gain and try to eradicate them on our own or seek help from a qualified psychologist.

According to the basic tenets of psychosomatics, gaining excess weight is almost always associated with certain psychological problems, the most common of which is neglect of one’s own body, expressed in a lack of self-criticism.

In addition to the above aspect, the following psychological causes of excess weight are distinguished:

• Eating nervous stress, worries, negative emotions and thoughts. This factor implies the following: in an effort to forget about the unpleasant situations and quarrels experienced, a person consumes a significantly larger amount of food than usual, while focusing on sweet and fatty foods.
• Lack of sufficient attention from family and friends. In this case, food is a kind of way to fill the inner emptiness, an inadequate replacement for live communication and relationships.

So, the main psychosomatic factor leading to the recruitment overweight body, is the absence of an important element in a person’s life, be it living emotions, communication, relationships, self-love or something else.

Eating large amounts of food and overeating help to distract from existing problems and create the illusion of psychological comfort. In some cases, to start the weight loss mechanism, it is enough to simply fill the missing element.

Predisposing factors or motives

Excess unnecessary weight is often associated with certain motives that literally give a person suffering from obesity the attitude of eating large amounts of food, literally pushing the body to develop a disease called obesity.

Factors that practicing psychologists especially often highlight may be the following:

The listed motives are exclusively impetus for launching the mechanism of gaining excess body weight. To lose weight and prevent similar problems in the future, it is important to adjust your own thoughts and life position.

Excess weight as a form of protection

Psychological disorders and negative moments in life often manifest themselves in the deposition of fat masses in certain areas of the body. Age characteristics may also be a determining factor. Below is a table of diseases, age and gender problems that will help to consider the problems in more detail.

Distinctive features	Cause
Fat deposition in men on the thighs and tummy.	The so-called “female” type of obesity is often detected in men who are in a dependent position on a powerful woman, be it a wife or mother. Gradually, a truly masculine nature acquires feminine traits that leave an imprint on external qualities.
Deposition of abdominal fat in women.	The appearance of a fat layer mainly in the abdominal area among representatives of the fair half of humanity may be evidence of denial of one’s own essence, sexuality, and significance. More often, this type of obesity affects single women who do not have the opportunity to realize themselves as a loved one, mother, or wife.
Childhood obesity.	Obesity is predominantly observed in children and adolescents who are under the overprotective care of parents or close relatives from infancy. In addition, children who are regularly subjected to physical or corporal punishment, children who do not have the natural ability to splash out negative emotions, anger, and rage may suffer from such a pathology.

In order to lose weight, it is important to take into account all the factors that can provoke excess weight gain and work with a psychologist, taking into account the identified problems.

Treatment methods

Unfortunately, even if we identify psychological problem, which has pushed a person to abuse food, in order to eliminate extra pounds, you will have to use not only psychological, but also physical methods. First of all, this is constant monitoring of the quality and quantity of food taken. Sports activities and an active lifestyle are also necessary.

As for the most common psychological techniques that will help you get rid of excess weight, the common ones are:

• If food acts as a source of relaxation, you should replace it with something that has a similar effect. For example, you can pay attention to yoga, swimming, and active sports. In this case, a regular long walk will be no less useful.
• Before you make your next visit to the refrigerator, you should ask yourself whether this is a feeling of hunger or a feeling of moral dissatisfaction. It is advisable to start a meal only if the answer to the first question is positive.
• It is important to pay attention to your own personality, accept and love all the advantages and disadvantages; as for the latter, it is quite possible to fight them without using heavy artillery, namely - a large number of unhealthy and delicious food.
• If the main reason for overeating lies in the environment, it is important to change your attitude towards your loved ones and try to correct their attitude towards themselves. It should be remembered that any conflict can be resolved peacefully.

The fight against excess weight, if the main reasons for its gain lie in the mental plane, includes a complex combination of material and moral aspects. It is almost impossible to lose weight by paying attention to only one aspect of the existing problem. If the habit of compensating for dissatisfaction with life with food has been developed over the years, the situation can only be corrected by contacting a competent psychologist and coping with your own efforts. similar situations extremely difficult.

It is important to remember that for external transformation it is important to achieve inner harmony and peace of mind.

Before we begin to consider this topic, it should be emphasized that excess (excess) weight and obesity are not the same thing. The difference for them is the body mass index (BMI): an indicator from 25 to 30 is overweight or preobese, more than 30 is obese.

Thus, excess weight– this is the presence of some excess body weight.

Signs of excess weight are:

• the appearance of new folds on the body, a “double” chin, cellulite,
• inability to draw in the stomach,
• the appearance of unheated areas after intense physical activity on the abdomen, buttocks, sides, thighs), etc.

The following are the causes of excess weight:

1. hereditary predisposition,
2. unhealthy diet
3. diseases of the pituitary gland, thyroid gland, adrenal glands and ovaries.

Obesity is a disease, pathological accumulation of excess fat deposits in organs, tissues and subcutaneous tissue. Obesity poses a threat to human health and life.

Signs of obesity are:

• snoring and lack of sleep at night,
• frequent high blood pressure,
• feeling of discomfort in the back and knees,
• constant increase in waist size and weight,
• difficulties in maintaining an active life and playing sports,
• the appearance of cellulite areas on the body,
• constant feeling of hunger.

Physiological reasons contributing to obesity are:

1. genetic disorders
2. imbalance between calories consumed and energy expended,
3. disorders of the liver, pancreas, intestines,
4. bulimia (exacerbated feeling of hunger).

Note that obesity in women is detected 2 times more often than in men.

There are several types of obesity.

Nutritional-constitutional type associated with predisposition and often occurs in members of the same family.

Hypothalamic type arises as a consequence of deviations of the central nervous system human, and in particular, pathologies of the hypothalamus - the part of the brain that regulates the endocrine system.

Endocrine type obesity appears as a result of pathologies of the endocrine system itself and is rare.

When revealing the psychosomatic causes of excess weight, you should dwell on some points.

To begin with, let us remember that a person’s body is a container for his Soul (the Soul is the content, and the body is the form). Hence, all mental health disorders over time negatively affect the state of the body.

Secondly, the word “weight” in a figurative sense is understood as “status, position” (“to have weight in society”). And sometimes people start to gain weight, striving to take their place in life.

Often negative experiences of self-perception and self-esteem in relationships with others affect a person’s weight.

Psychologists have discovered that people gain excess weight very sensitive, insecure people. As a rule, fear (of people, the future) lives in their inner world. Such people are characterized touchiness, imposing one's will on others. They often have thirst for hoarding(which clearly shows the accumulating excess weight).

According to psychological research, excess weight indicates disturbances in the human senses: nutrition, eating food becomes the only joy in life for him.

A person with this approach to food feels within himself a void that needs to be filled. Instead of filling his inner world with joyful emotions, he fills his stomach. But this gives only a short-term effect, since the spiritual emptiness is not filled with food. And the gluttony continues.

If a person leans on sweets, this indicates that he there is not enough “sweetness of life” (joy in life).

Sweet cravings in children usually indicate lack of love. Excess weight in a child often appears as an expression wanting to be noticed close people (since the child thinks that he is not noticed in the family).

Psychological causes of obesity

Nutritional obesity is associated with psycho-emotional hunger: a person lacks love, but physical nutrition weakens heartache, feeling of loss.

Such psycho-emotional hunger with a constant desire to eat can lead to bulimia. This is a disease that occurs in connection with a neuropsychiatric disorder, which manifests itself in uncontrolled eating.

The endocrine form of obesity is localized around an organ, as it is associated with disease of the endocrine glands. The location of the organ and its metaphysical meaning can suggest which negative emotions caused this type of obesity.

It should be noted that with this type of obesity, gymnastics and diet do not help, which directly indicates its psychosomatic basis. It has been revealed that endocrine obesity usually affects spiritually weak, insecure, touchy person. This is due to the fact that such a person has weak protective mental functions, no understanding of the essence of the events taking place. Hence the resentment.

Another factor in this obesity may be life under pressure loved one ( For example, strong dependence on mother). In this case, the person inside seems to be suffocating from the powerlessness to resist and outwardly “swells up.”

Often, fat deposits in a person indicate complexes associated with one's appearance.

If we're talking about about the presence of excess weight in a woman, then one of the reasons is that she in life you have to be strong like a man(and, since “strong” is subconsciously associated with the concept of “big,” the woman begins to increase in size).

From birth in the child's mind satiety is inseparably linked with such fundamental sensations as security and love. Hence, a child who gains excess weight compensates for their deficiency.

Parents themselves can cause child obesity: if they constantly offer food as a universal response to any expression of any of his needs, or the mother shows love for the child depending on how he eats(if you eat, I will love).

Review of psychosomatic causes of excess weight and obesity proposed by some authors

According to Louise Hay, the following reasons underlie the appearance of excess weight: fear, need for protection, reluctance to feel, defenselessness, self-denial, suppressed desire to achieve what you want.

Among the causes of obesity, she identifies hypersensitivity, fear and need for protection, hidden anger, unwillingness to forgive.

In her table, Louise Hay gives psychosomatic causes of obesity in different parts of the body.

So, fatty hands indicates anger due to rejected love, belly - on anger in response to denial of spiritual nourishment and emotional care. Obesity in the upper thigh indicates the presence of lumps of stubbornness and anger at parents, lower thigh - availability reserves of children's anger, anger at the father.

She sees the psychological cause of bulimia fear and hopelessness, feverish overwhelm and release of feelings of self-hatred(People with bulimia are known to eat uncontrollably at first, and then, due to anxiety about their figure, induce vomiting or drink laxatives to get rid of what they ate).

Psychologist Liz Burbo revealed that in most cases the basis of these ailments are humiliation in childhood and adolescence. People with such psychological trauma subsequently experience fear of repeating a shameful situation, and the body finds protection in the form of fat.

According to Burbo, sometimes excess weight is as protection from people taking advantage of a person(when a person helps everyone, he is afraid to refuse help). Another option: as if “sandwiched” between two people, wants to make them happy, forgetting about himself.

It happens that a person does not want to be attractive to the opposite sex for fear of rejection. Then the body simply fulfills his desire.

Dr. V. Sinelnikov also points out fear as the main reason accumulation of fat, which should symbolize protection. He writes that a person is so strong dissatisfied and hates himself that the body protects itself from such destructive emotions.

Practice helped the doctor discover that obesity is often caused by hidden anger and unwillingness to forgive.

V. Sinelnikov also claims that the lack of love is often replaced by food. Alternatively: food is perceived by a person as a means of getting quick pleasure.

The doctor debunks the myth that women gain weight after childbirth. In his opinion, in this case the reason is that the woman pays less attention and love to himself.

Often anxiety about the child's health forces the expectant mother to eat heavily, since in the subconscious of many there is an association “rich food - health.”

Ways to Heal

Today there are many different ways and methods of healing from excess weight and obesity.

But speaking of healing psychosomatic illness, it is worth remembering one thing: the ways of healing, like the causes, are in the person himself, more precisely, in his inner world.

To find your own path of healing (and each person will have their own path of healing, different from others), it is necessary to trace and analyze his thoughts and emotions with which he lived in Lately. What are they filled with?: Love or hate, Trust in life or fear, Good or evil, Cheerfulness or depression, positive or negative, optimism or pessimism?..

After doing this inner work, you will come to the conclusion that physical health you can have it if you live within yourself in Love for yourself and the world around you.

What does it mean to “Love yourself”? This does not mean indulging yourself.

It means accepting oneself (with good and bad sides), but striving to be spiritually and morally better. This means not “breaking yourself” for the sake of something or someone. If a person loves himself, then he will strive to develop himself mentally and spiritually, will take care of his body, since it is the only one and no other is given.

And if a person loves himself, then he will treat other people the same way: with acceptance and respect for other, but equally unique individuals.

It seems that if these two basic conditions are present (the right attitude towards oneself and towards others), health and harmony are guaranteed.

Greetings, dear readers! Has it ever happened that you thoughtlessly gobbled up a bucket of ice cream when your boyfriend dumped you? Or sitting in front of the computer, popping something into your mouth as you struggled to get work done on time? Perhaps you're a busy mom who eats cookies in the car while driving the kids to school? The answer to the question of why we behave this way is answered by the psychosomatics of excess weight in women.

Doctors these days look at the problem of obesity as a physical disease that must be combated through diet and exercise. But these methods, as a rule, have an unstable and short-term effect. Our consciousness is just the tip of the iceberg. There is also the subconscious, which controls thoughts, emotions and behavior.

Completeness can serve as protection against psychological trauma or deep-rooted negative emotions. Stress that lasts for a long time increases appetite and prevents you from starting to eat. healthy image life by willpower.

Before diagnosing your problem, I suggest you learn how to determine if you are overweight. There are a large number of calculators for this, but the most accurate way is the Quetelet index. To calculate it, you need to divide your body weight by your height squared.

Compare the result with the table data.

Why do people gain weight?

Let's look at the 5 main causes of excess weight, the nature of which is hidden in the subconscious.

Hormones

When your brain detects the presence of a threat, be it angry dog, an irritated boss or mortgage debt, this causes the production of huge amounts of adrenaline, prolactin and cortisol. They try to make sure you are alert, ready to run away or fight.

At first, adrenaline will help you not feel hungry. However, when its effect wears off, cortisol, known as the “stress hormone,” begins to signal that you need to snack.

Today, a person who sits on the couch and worries about how to pay the bills does not expend as much energy as our ancestors. Unfortunately, our endocrine system has not changed since those times, and the brain continues to whisper: “Take another cookie.”

Anxiety

During a surge of adrenaline, we become restless and nervous. This condition causes the desire for “emotional eating.”

Stress can make you eat food thoughtlessly, not feel its taste and aroma, and cannot control its quantity. Most likely, in an anxious state you will eat more and enjoy less.

Accumulation “in reserve”

Excessive cortisol production slows down metabolism. Our body tries to accumulate sufficient glucose levels to overcome stressful situations.

Craving for fast food

Why do we crave ice cream and potato chips? Stress also affects food preferences. These are highly processed foods, high in fat, sugar and salt. When we're stressed, cortisol can make us crave these foods.

This may also be due to childhood memories, when we associated the smell of fresh baked goods with comfort and evoked positive emotions.

Therefore, when we are worried, we would rather go to a restaurant for a meal. fast food, than we will think about how to cook dinner at home.

Lack of sleep

Have you noticed how difficult it is to fall asleep if you are worried about something? Our mind doesn't turn off and we lose sleep. Stress leads to low blood sugar and fatigue. If you drink coffee and energy drinks, your sleep cycles will be further disrupted.

Sleep is a powerful factor in weight gain or loss. Its deficiency affects the functioning of the hormones ghrelin and leptin, which control appetite.

Gender differences

Numerous studies show that women turn to food more often during times of stress, while men turn to alcohol and cigarettes. And women’s metabolism is significantly different from men’s:

1. IN calm state Women burn carbohydrates the fastest and fats the slowest. Nature made sure that these fat reserves were used during pregnancy and breastfeeding. They contain omega-3 fatty acids, which are important for the proper development of a child's brain. The body monitors the concentration of nutrients, and if there is a shortage, it will try to gain excess weight.
2. allow you to burn fat faster during exercise, so physical exercise plays an important role for us in achieving a slim figure. In this case, fat is burned faster in the upper body than in the lower body. In men it predominates visceral fat, in women - subcutaneous. Conclusion: Love doing squats, lunges and step aerobics, as well as the treadmill and bike.
3. Stress negatively affects a woman's metabolism. The more experiences in life, the higher the level of cortisol in the body and the less estrogen. Low levels of the female hormone interfere with the burning of subcutaneous fat even during exercise.
4. women react differently to a lack of calories. Men lose excess fat during fasting. It is harmful for women: it leads to excess weight, insomnia and missed menstruation.
5. Girls can build up muscle mass Not worse than men After 40 years, this ability decreases significantly.

Steps to get rid of extra pounds

When stress is affecting your appetite and waist size, you can prevent further weight gain by clearing your refrigerator and cupboards of unhealthy foods. Here are other suggestions on how to lose excess weight:

1. Meditation – Countless studies show that meditation can help people be more mindful of their food choices. Conscious eating will help you tune in to your personal feeling of fullness and not give in to the impulse to eat too much;
2. – Anaerobic exercise will help reduce cortisol levels and improve your mood. And also increase metabolism and lose excess weight without dieting;
3. Find pleasure in more than just food. Take a walk, read a book, or pet your cat;
4. Supportive people around you – spending time with friends and family is important for your health. You will feel more alert and think clearly;
5. Keep a diary - write down your experiences in a notebook. This will help you understand the causes of stress and ways to overcome it. Describing the goals you want to achieve in terms of nutrition and exercise will make your desire to live a healthy lifestyle clearer.

Nature has given us enormous health potential. What prevents overweight people from being slim? The answer is paradoxical: diseases, in particular obesity, often mask underlying psychological disorders. Sometimes this can be a form of protest. Or hide hidden benefits.

The reasons are unique in each case. But if we understand it, we will be able to transfer a part of our psyche from the unconscious to the conscious. This will provide an opportunity to gain control over this problem and find a solution to change the situation in the right direction.

Don't forget to leave your comments, friends.

Goodbye!

Always yours, Anna Tikhomirova