An NHS hospital is looking at hypnotising severely obese children to stop them overeating.

英国国家医疗服务体系（NHS）的一家医院正在尝试通过催眠来阻止严重肥胖的儿童过度进食。

Celebrity hypnotist Paul McKenna has called for the NHS to roll out hypnosis for millions of kids and adults to tackle Britain's obesity crisis. A case study presented at the European Congress on Obesity showed an NHS Complications of Excess Weight (CEW) Service successfully used hypnosis to treat a 13-year-old boy with severe obesity.

名人催眠师保罗·麦肯纳呼吁NHS将催眠疗法推广至数百万儿童和成人，以应对英国的肥胖危机。 在欧洲肥胖大会上展示的一份案例研究显示，NHS的“超重并发症”（CEW）服务机构成功利用催眠疗法治疗了一名13岁的严重肥胖男孩。

Matthew Selman, a senior clinical psychologist at Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said the boy had tried everything but his weight was still rising. He said: "I'm very optimistic about the benefits. It's clearly not going to be for everyone but when it connects with someone, you can see quite significant changes."

泰恩河畔纽卡斯尔医院NHS基金会信托基金会的高级临床心理学家马修·塞尔曼表示，这个男孩尝试了所有方法，但体重仍在增加。 他说：“我对这种疗法的益处非常乐观。 显然它并非对每个人都有效，但当它确实与某人产生共鸣时，你会看到相当显著的变化。”

Mr Selman added that two other patients also offered hypnosis alongside standard care but did not take to it. He now plans to try it with more young people to better understand who can benefit.

塞尔曼补充说，另外两名在接受标准护理的同时也接受催眠疗法的患者并未对此产生积极反应。 他现在计划在更多年轻人身上尝试这种方法，以便更好地了解哪些人能够受益。

Self-help guru and hypnotist Paul McKenna, 62, said medics were increasingly seeing the benefits of alternative approaches to stop overeating. He said: "There's no doubt that hypnotherapy for weight loss is a really good idea. Some people describe feeling like a switch was flipped in their mind and suddenly they just didn't want to eat as much, felt motivated to exercise or became really conscious of what they were eating.

62岁的自助大师兼催眠师保罗·麦肯纳表示，医学界越来越看到替代疗法在阻止过度进食方面的益处。 他说：“毫无疑问，使用催眠疗法减肥是一个非常棒的主意。 有些人形容这种感觉就像是大脑中的一个开关被打开了，突然间他们就不太想吃东西了，更有动力去锻炼，或者对自己吃的东西变得非常在意。”

"A number of doctors have been saying publicly for a while, we should use these techniques in the NHS — we could save the NHS a fortune. Medical professionals are now looking at this and taking it seriously."

“一段时间以来，一些医生一直在公开呼吁，我们应该在NHS中使用这些技术——这样可以给NHS节省大量资金。 医学专业人士现在正在关注这一点，并认真对待它。”

Clinical hypnosis involves a therapist guiding a patient to reach a state of "heightened suggestibility" then introducing suggestions. It is offered by some NHS practitioners for irritable bowel syndrome and chronic pain but not weight loss.

临床催眠疗法是指治疗师引导患者达到一种“高度易受暗示”的状态，然后引入暗示。 目前，NHS的一些从业者为肠易激综合征和慢性疼痛患者提供这种疗法，但并未用于减肥。

The 13-year-old boy had three 50-minute hypnosis sessions in which was supported to "learn to eat for his body rather than his feelings" and to stop going to the cupboard and getting crisps after coming home from school. The teenager then continued using self-hypnosis for a total of four months.

这名13岁的男孩接受了三次每次50分钟的催眠治疗，在治疗过程中，他得到了支持，学会了“为自己的身体而吃，而不是为情绪而吃”，并改掉了放学回家后去食品柜拿薯片的习惯。 随后，这名青少年继续使用自我催眠，总共持续了四个月。

His BMI score became closer to the normal figure for his age group and his body fat percentage fell from 66% to 55%. His anxiety scores also improved.

他的身体质量指数（BMI）得分更接近其年龄组的正常数值，他的体脂率从66%下降到55%。 他的焦虑评分也有所改善。

Paul said: "What I'm impressed with about this approach in Newcastle is that it's rounded, using hypnosis alongside other techniques. But I would expect hypnosis to be a significant factor in helping people to reduce their weight."

保罗说：“纽卡斯尔的这种方法给我留下深刻印象的是它的全面性，将催眠与其他技术结合使用。 但我认为催眠将是帮助人们减轻体重的一个重要因素。”

Around 16 million adults are living with obesity in the UK and a further 23m are overweight.

在英国，约有1600万成年人患有肥胖症，另有2300万人超重。

Separate data presented at Europe's major obesity conference this week showed 6,500 children have been treated in the NHS at CEWs for severe obesity since they were launched in England in 2021, including more than 400 who were prescribed weight loss jabs.

本周在欧洲主要肥胖会议上公布的另一项数据显示，自2021年在英格兰启动以来，NHS的“超重并发症”服务机构已经治疗了6500名患有严重肥胖的儿童，其中超过400名儿童被开了减肥针。

Paul pioneered a technique called the Hypnotic Gastric Band which has been used by millions around the world. It guides patients through imagining that their stomach has shrunk from the size of a football to the size of a tennis ball. He added: "It doesn't work for everyone every time, but it seems to work for most people most of the time."

保罗开创了一项名为“催眠胃束带”的技术，全球已有数百万人使用。 该技术引导患者想象自己的胃已经从足球大小缩小到了网球大小。 他补充说：“这种方法并非每次对每个人都有效，但似乎对大多数人在大多数时候都有效。”