Think yourself thin

February 10, 2009  •  Health  •  0 Comments

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• "It is a clever combination of cognitive behavioural therapy, guided imagery, visualisation and deep hypnotherapy"

Costa del Sol clinic claims to have found a cheap miracle cure for obesity. It’s all in the mind

A BRITISH company on the Costa del Sol is claiming to have found a miracle cure for obesity.

Elite Clinics in Fuengirola claims that through hypnotherapy people lose weight after believing they have had a so-called ‘gastric band’ fitted.

The clever process takes just six two-hour sessions and costs up to a tenth of the price of the real thing.

“We have so far had a 70 per cent success rate of people losing weight,” claimed Martin Shirran, clinical therapist at the clinic.

The idea works by persuading patients through hypnotherapy that they have had a gastric band fitted in their stomach.

Celebrities

The band causes the stomach to constrict physically, lessening the amount of food that can be eaten. Since invented it has helped thousands of people around the world lose weight and has become an increasingly popular weight loss option for celebrities.

In contrast, the Gastric Mind Band (GmB) works only by instilling the idea that the patient has had one installed.

After an in-depth conversation with a therapist, patients are asked to make themselves comfortable and lean back in a reclining chair.

According to Shirran, a short while later they remember being taken through a virtual reality type experience involving a gastric band fitting procedure.

He claims they then wake up completely convinced that they have undergone a surgical operation under general anaesthetic.

“It is a clever combination of cognitive behavioural therapy, guided imagery, visualisation and deep hypnotherapy,” explained Shirran.

He himself, claims to have lost a huge 50 pounds (over half his body weight) since becoming one of the first trial subjects last year.

“I was huge just a few years ago,” Shirran told the Olive Press. “Now I feel just great, really slim and happy.”

One of his patients English mother-of-three Marion Corns, who lives on the Costa del Sol, claims to have lost three stones in five months through the treatment.

She said: “I’ve gone from a size 20 to a size 12 . I’m much happier and can wear pretty clothes. I recently visited my parents in the UK and my dad did not even recognise me.

“My diet has stayed healthy and my portion sizes small. As with ‘real’ gastric bands, bread bloats me and fizzy drinks cause me discomfort. I feel physically sick if I overeat just like I would if I had a real gastric band.”

Both Martin and his wife Marion are trained therapists from the UK.

Martin says the treatment costs 795 euros for six sessions, but there is currently a big waiting list.

“We are inundated with requests for information and seven people alone are flying in from the USA over the next few weeks to have treatment,” he added.

The gastric band can cost up to 9000 euros to be installed and became front page news when last year the News of the World exposed claims by TV star Fern Britton that she had lost five stone through exercise.

In fact, she had had an operation to have a band fitted.

Other names who are said to have undergone surgery to have a band fitted include reality TV star Sharon Osbourne, breakfast TV presenter Anne Diamond and former Argentine footballer Diego Maradona.

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