Paul Mc Kenna will make you thin

ISAW

Here is a variation on the Derren Brown theme.
I have seen this guy in operation and it surprised me!

He treated a woman who was an MD and had an avertion to needles. She had lost her job and wouldnt even go outside. Following two or three visits of about an hour and a few ten minute phone calls he got her to hold a syringe and a week later to take blood!

He even treated a guy with Turetts. I thought this impossible! But he achieved wonders with the guy.

He uses psychology and hypnotism.

Currently he has a series on Sky where he is getting people to lose wright using the same techniques. One of them dealt with vcravings and involves visualisation and a tapping technique. He referred to medical people who pioneered the technique. It involves tapping on points above the eye on the cheek under the arm the clavicle pressure point, the heel of the palm about a inch or so above the atonomical snuff box and the back of the palm about the center of the metatarsals.

This tapping was accompanied with eye movements where you stared down to the right down to the left and circled without focusing both clock wise and counter.

Now here is where my Skeptic antennae came in. He claimed that the points
are "energy points" from acupuncture but were validated by the claims of Two MDs. I had seen him use the tapping thing omn the Turetts guy. I believe it works but I do not accept the underlying theory. Anyone know about this?

His "diet" is great by the way. Dead simple. Only four rules. Eat when you are hungey. Eat whatever you like. Be concious of wht what you eat and when full - stop. leave food on your plate.

Zillah

ISAW wrote:

He claimed that the points
are "energy points" from acupuncture but were validated by the claims of Two MDs. I had seen him use the tapping thing omn the Turetts guy. I believe it works but I do not accept the underlying theory. Anyone know about this?

His "diet" is great by the way. Dead simple. Only four rules. Eat when you are hungey. Eat whatever you like. Be concious of wht what you eat and when full - stop. leave food on your plate.

Very clear pyschological method it would appear to me. You're supposed to go through this tapping ritual when you feel overwhelmed by temptation. In that way it gives you an illusionary control over the situation. After all, overcoming an urge is purely inside someone's head, so allowing people to believe they're using a technique to control it essentially is giving them a technique to control it.

I wouldn't be suprised if it worked if the method was "Blink really fast and sing jingle bells", as long as they apply it consistently and believe it works.

Zombrex

ISAW wrote:

His "diet" is great by the way. Dead simple. Only four rules. Eat when you are hungey. Eat whatever you like. Be concious of wht what you eat and when full - stop. leave food on your plate.

Sweet mother of god that is brilliant ... 12 stone here I come!! ..

Laguna

I saw this show. Did you not notice the people who he was 'treating' appeared to be a bit simple, not that I regard myself as uber intelligent, but if someone doesn't see through the phoneyness of tapping areas of your head when you have a craving they have to be a few sandwiches short of a picnic. If it works, all well and good but I personally can't stand this sort of bull****.

Myksyk

This tapping he's using may owe something not only to acupressure but also to Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) which, while originally advocating the use of bi-lateral saccadic eye-movements to supposedly facilitate the brain's processing of information (a la REM), has 'moved on' to include all sorts of bi-lateral tapping stimulation (e.g. tapping each arm). Shapiro originated this therapy but mny consider it to be a classic case of pseudoscience (e.g. Scott Lilienfeld) but this has not stopped it becoming a massive therapy industry throughout the world claiming high success rates for all sorts of psychological ills. I remember being trained in the therapy (in my less skeptical days) but even then it was almost evangelical in its presentation. A funny incident happened when the ultra-cool American presenter prsented some information about someone's evoked memories during therapy, indicating that she recalled someone in a red cape. He then said "Well we all know what this was referring to huh?" to which we all hesitatingly chorused in ... "Santa Claus?" ... Mr. Americano ignored the festive reference (I actually think he wasn't listening to us) and said "That's right ... Ritual Satanic Abuse!!"

Tap tap tap tap tap!!

robindch

> leave food on your plate.

Hmm... dieting. hmm... firm instructions to go easy on food. I think the man might be onto something big!

ISAW

robindch wrote:

> leave food on your plate.

Hmm... dieting. hmm... firm instructions to go easy on food. I think the man might be onto something big!

The point is that people feel they have to eat everything on their plate. He claims people may unconsciously "shovel" food into their mouth or eat nuts crisps or other snacks like that. He suggests you should put down your knife and fork after food goes into your maouth. then whny you taste and experience the food you pick them up again. this way you soon become full and have to leave food behind. It is part of the "eat conciously" rule.

WexCan

I think his rules are decent enough. The tapping/spinning seems a bit odd to me but I suppose, as has been said, there might be a decent backing to it, even if it *is* only distraction.