There are different kinds of strategies to help people lose weight. And we should know by now that calling someone fat (or body shaming as people call it) will only make the problem worst. For some people, however, especially those who have a hard time controlling the amount of food they eat, that voice doesn't only come from the people around them; it's also something that comes from their head.
Fortunately, a new approach to help these people control their food intake was recently discovered. According to Melanie Greenfeld, a psychologist based in Perth, compassion-focused therapy or CFT, teaches people to be more sympathetic to themselves, and this therapy is very suitable for those who have eating and body image issues.
Greenfeld says that overeaters tend to be very hard on themselves, especially those who binge. She tries to help these people out by developing a more compassionate relationship with themselves.
The process begins with getting them to listen to how they converse with themselves. They often say they're fat, timid, and hopeless because they've eaten a lot or that they were not able to stick to their diet plan, but when it came to other people, they're totally the opposite.
The next step is to train themselves to change their language from a judgmental tone to a more comforting one. Comforting words like: "OK, you ate a cookie- it's not the end of the world." While pessimists think of it as a way to make people eat more, Greenfeld's opinion is the opposite.
She explained saying that there has been studies stating the when you continuously practice something, it will act like a circuit breaker because it stops feelings of shame and guilt that makes someone feel bad and making them turn away from food just to make themselves feel better. Though this may seem to be harmful to some, it is actually a self-soothing way that does not entail someone to eat.
She clarifies that this therapy is not about encouraging people to keep on eating; it's just a different approach than what they have been used to. She also said that she has dealt with people and they're usually dealing with health professionals waving a finger at them and tell them straight up to stop eating too much- but this way doesn't help with the problem.
There's normally a reason why people binge eat, and that's mostly emotional. Self-compassion doesn't judge, it tries to identify the feelings involved, most often it tries to ask the person involved how they themselves can react to the stressor at hand with kindness and understanding.
CFT is also used to get people to recognize that they are part of humanity, and that everybody shares the same experiences may it be failure or disappointment. "Overeaters often feel very isolated, and normalising these experiences helps them realise they're not alone." Greenfeld said.
