This article was appeared in The Sunday Times on 12th April 2009.

Hypnosis is being touted as the cure for every modern ill, from obesity to sexual frustration and even infertility
Anita Chaudhuri

There were shrieks of disbelief when Lily Allen revealed that her dramatically slimmed-down figure was not the result of the latest Hollywood diet or a hot new personal trainer, but of a far more unlikely regime: hypnotherapy. That a woman could magically drop two dress sizes as a result of lying on someone’s couch sounds, frankly, unbelievable. Yet there is a body of scientific evidence to back up the effectiveness of hypnosis for weight loss and a range of other issues, from anxiety and sleep disorders to infertility and compulsive shopping.