Hypnotic Regression as an Autoethnographic Modality for Exploring Adverse Childhood Experiences as Proposed Effectors of Chronic Adult Obesity - Selected Case Studies

Abstract

Much has been written about the aetiological role of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) in the development of chronic adult physical and emotional health problems but current screening methods utilising questionnaires and formal interviewing often fail to show consensus across populations and surveys. This paper proposes that hypnotic regression might provide an alternative approach to ACE screening through its facility in revealing unsuspected and seemingly minor ACEs, which nevertheless can go on to have long term implications for individuals’ adult health. In this study seven female participants with intractable overweight volunteered to participate in a series of hypnosis sessions designed to explore for possible covert childhood or early adulthood traumatic experiences which might have contributed towards their adult obesity problems. During their hypnosis sessions all participants were seemingly able to recall and to recount, narratives of long-forgotten but intensely painful childhood experiences, traumas and family disharmony, which appeared to have provoked life-changing decisions regarding their weight, body image or eating habits, and which may then have contributed to their developing refractory obesity later in their adult life. This study suggests that current decisions limiting the range of what constitutes ACEs may account for the differing results of previous ACEs surveys and that hypnosis might prove to be a useful tool in screening for otherwise unrecognised ACEs, thus helping to improve the specificity and sensitivity of current ACE screening programmes.