How Hypnotherapy Can Support Disordered Eating Recovery

“Most people know what they don’t want. Part of the work is helping them discover what they want to feel instead.”

In this week’s episode of Full of Beans, Hannah is joined by Melanie Davies, a sleep and stress consultant and clinical hypnotherapist, to explore how hypnotherapy can support anxiety regulation, emotional overwhelm, and disordered eating patterns.

Together, Hannah and Melanie unpack what hypnotherapy actually involves, how it works with the emotional and unconscious mind, and why nervous-system-based approaches may help when behaviour-focused treatments feel limiting or incomplete.

This week, we discuss:

What clinical hypnotherapy is and how it differs from stage hypnosis
Hypnosis as a naturally occurring state of focused attention
The role of the unconscious mind in habits, urges, and emotional eating
Anxiety, stress responses, and food-related coping behaviours
Emotional regulation as a foundation for sustainable habit change
Hypnotherapy as a complementary approach alongside existing treatment
Using imagination to support neural rewiring and behaviour change
Anchoring techniques to support self-soothing and nervous system calming
Evidence and emerging research in hypnotherapy, disordered eating, and IBS
Ethical practice, contraindications, and the importance of assessment

Timestamps

00:00 – Meeting Melanie and introducing hypnotherapy in clinical practice
02:10 – Why hypnosis isn’t “mind control” and what actually happens in session
05:40 – Focused attention, suggestibility, and everyday hypnotic states
09:10 – Emotional drivers of binge urges, restriction, and food noise
13:30 – Individualised treatment and why one-size-fits-all approaches fall short
16:50 – Reconnecting with bodily cues, fullness, and interoceptive awareness
20:30 – Supporting long-term change: maintenance, self-hypnosis, and autonomy
24:10 – Calming cortisol, anchors, and nervous system retraining
27:50 – Clinical evidence: bulimia, impulsive eating, IBS and the gut-brain axis
33:20 – Integration with medical care, ethics, and suitability
36:00 – Accessing support and next steps