Proposal of a new hypothesis for the psychosomatic treatment of obesity and its application.
Dieting or a change in eating habits is the most widely used approach aimed at reducing body weight. However, it is also well known that many obese people cannot reduce body weight substantially, no matter how hard they try, and that they soon regain whatever they do lose. The conventional approach to the treatment of obesity is to control it by prohibition or suppression of overeating, and by orders to change eating habits. This paper presented and examined a new psychosomatic approach for obesity (NPAO). Taking the story of "The North Wind and the Sun" from Aesop's Fables as a metaphor, this hypothesis is based on the reduction of overstressors through a "Sun"-type approach as opposed to a "North Wind"-type approach. This "Sun"-type approach, which incorporates 2 principles and 3 basic rules, is useful in decreasing stressors such as prohibition, suppression and orders, and increasing pleasantness, which competes with unpleasant stress. The treatment based on this hypothesis was applied to 77 subjects: 62 men (age 46.2 +/- 8.0 years) and 15 women (age 50.6 +/- 4.5 years). All subjects were given medical checks just before and 6 months after the psychosomatic approach for obesity. For a proportion of cases, maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) was measured before and after. In the practiced group (48 cases) except for three persons who had stopped the program within 3 months after the start, body weight and body mass index fell significantly by 5.2 kg (p < 0.001) and 2.0 kg/m2 (p < 0.001) respectively, after 6 months. There were significant reductions in total cholesterol and triglyceride (p < 0.01, p < 0.01 respectively). VO2max, however, increased significantly (p < 0.05). The subjects' impressions of this therapy, collected after 6 months were as follows: "It was comfortable" 67.7%, "It was hard going" 8.8%, "My body has become lighter" 79.4%, "I have become more energetic" 70.5%, and "I have become happier" 64.7%. During the period of the therapy, there was no report of any appearance of new physical or mental abnormalities such as fatigue or uncomfortableness. On the other hand, there were no significant changes in any parameters except for an increase of blood sugar in the non-practiced group (26 cases). These results strongly indicate that the NPAO is easy in practice, has a high success rate, shows no rebounding, reduces body weight safely, and results in an increase of vigor.
Fujino
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Institute of Health Science, Kyushu University, Kasuga.
D001521:Behavior Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000628:therapy*