Suzanne Kellner-Zinck of Dawning Visions Hypnosis On How To Support A Loved One Who Is Struggling With An Eating Disorder
Acknowledge the perception of the past that the eating disordered family member has because this is how they feel about it. Arguing your case is only going to further push them away.
Eating disorders are complex mental health conditions that affect millions worldwide, transcending age, gender, and cultural boundaries. They are not simply about food but involve a range of psychological, physical, and social issues. Supporting a loved one through this struggle can be challenging, requiring understanding, patience, and knowledge of the right approaches to truly make a difference.
In this series, we aim to shed light on the most effective ways to offer support, understanding, and hope to those battling an eating disorder. We are talking to psychologists, nutritionists, doctors, therapists, and survivors, who can provide valuable perspectives on nurturing recovery, fostering resilience, and promoting healthy relationships with food and body image. As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Suzanne Kellner-Zinck.Suzanne Kellner-Zinck came to the world of hypnotism and Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) as a direct result of being upset in the manner in which her severely mentally ill clients were being treated by her bosses in the conventional mental health programs in which she was employed. She went on a quest to find a holistic manner in which to help her clients truly heal their emotional wounds and create their ‘compelling futures’ in the way in which they wanted them.
Suzanne has innovated in the areas of helping her clients let go of mental health issues the conventional mental health professionals say is impossible including sex addiction, anorexia, bulimia, and drug addiction. She has written 4 books, has a weekly Blog and a weekly podcast called “Claim Your Excellent Live” has a YouTube channel dedicated to helping those in the conventional mental health paradigm of treatment learn how to integrate hypnotism and neurolinguistic programming into their practices so they too can cut away from a system that is unaligned with their own values and philosophies of healing to create much more lucrative practices working with their ideal clients while being location independent if they so choose.
She also provides 2 and 3-Day VIP Training all done online one-on-one for those who would love to integrate hypnotism and Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) into their healing protocols.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“No one can take your authority away unless you let them.” I learned this from my father while working in his dental office as a teen. It is relevant to me because it allowed me to focus on becoming healed of my own health challenges which the doctors had no way to help me clear. It also allowed me to demonstrate to my clients that they could indeed heal if they so chose by confronting the scary issues of their past and moving beyond them creating a new healthier understanding of who they are and who they could become.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
I am on a mission to train those who specialize in working with mental health patients how to better help them heal and get beyond their mental illnesses and anything no an emotional basis so they can live contented fulfilled lives as me and my thousands of clients have been able to do without the use of medication in the great majority of cases and endless sessions.
According to this study cited by the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, at least 30 million people in the U.S. of all ages and genders suffer from an eating disorder. Can you suggest 3–5 reasons why this has become such a critical issue recently?
- Eating disorders arise from a fear of growing up. The environment that people are living in are full of stress and uncertainty these days. This brings about an increase in anxiety, depression, eating disorders and other mental health issues.
- Eating disorders provide a focus on anything but the current problems that these patients feel they have to deal with.
- Eating disorders develop as a result of emotional traumas that are not being addressed.
- Eating disorders are a method to self-soothing — most of the self-harming behaviors are a form of self-soothing from the point of view of the patient. These would include all the food rituals, over-exercizing, and cutting behavior.
- Being able to control the food one eats or does not eat becomes one method of feeling control of themselves till the eating disordered person realizes that they have lost total control.
Based on your insight, what can concrete steps can a) individuals, b) corporations, c) communities and d) leaders do to address the core issues that are leading to this problem?
A major decrease in creating stressful situations. Stop the stigmatization of eating disorders by becoming more educated about them. Teach why these problems come into being and what can be done to help heal them. Invite those who have overcome them to come and speak about how they found themselves in the situation and how they overcame their eating disorder. Have professionals that their employees can be referred to for help and support to overcome the problem before it gets out of hand.
As you know, one of the challenges of an eating disorder is the harmful, and dismissive sentiment of “why can’t you just control yourself”. What do you think needs to be done to make it apparent that an eating disorder is an illness just like heart disease or schizophrenia?
We now know from the brain scans done by Dr. Nora Volkow the Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse that eating disorders are a form of addiction. A form of addiction that can lead to death if it is not treated in a timely manner. A better understanding of how addictions develop through the loss of dopamine receptors in the brain, and the complexities involved in changing thoughts and behaviors of any type and especially in those with eating disorders who have beliefs that these eating disorders are serving them in ways that those without them could never understand.
Can you please share with our readers 5 ways to support a loved one who is struggling with an eating disorder? If you can, can you share an example from your own experience?
1 . Let the loved one know that you love and care for them and only want the best for them.
2 . Respect the loved one’s boundaries by listening to what they are telling you is pushing them away from you.
3 . Let them know that when they are ready for treatment you will do whatever you can to help them find a treatment program that the loved one is interested in attending — so the eating disordered patient needs to have a say in where they will get the treatment.
4 . Stop commenting on the food they are eating or not eating. It only pushes them further away from you.
5 . Acknowledge the perception of the past that the eating disordered family member has because this is how they feel about it. Arguing your case is only going to further push them away.
How do you navigate the balance between offering support and respecting the autonomy of a loved one with an eating disorder?
You allow the loved one to speak about those things that they are willing to speak about and validate their feelings. Never force your point of view, following the lead of the loved one. The largest issue is that of trust more of themselves than anyone else. But without the trust for themselves they are not able to trust others.
Is there a message you would like to tell someone who may be reading this, who is currently struggling with an eating disorder?
Eating disorders can be overcome, however the traditional methods are not as helpful as using the subconscious mind through hypnotic techniques to let go of the root cause of the development of the eating disorder while helping the patient shift from self-harming thoughts and behaviors to life-giving thoughts and behaviors.
In your experience, what are the most effective strategies for building resilience and a positive self-image in individuals recovering from an eating disorder?
The best strategies are helping the individual realize all their talents and those aspects of their personality that they love and respect about themselves and building from there.
What are your favorite books, podcasts, or resources that have helped people with this struggle? Can you explain why you like them?
I wrote a book which is on Amazon.com called “Do I Have an Eating Disorder? Now What?” which explains through case histories how these problems develop, the standard ways of treating them and then explains how I treat my clients in a much different manner.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the largest amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
My current mission is to train those who specialize in working with patients with anorexia and bulimia learn how to integrate hypnotism and neuro-linguistic programming into their healing protocols so they too have patients who have gotten beyond their eating disorders to live contented, fulfilled normal lives without a though about their old eating disorder. I created a training specifically for those who work with anorexics and bulimics.
How can our readers continue to follow your work online?
My website: https://dawningvisions.com/
I answer many questions on Quora.com, I have a podcast: Claim Your Excellent Life, and I have a LinkedIn page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suzannekellnerzinck/
Thank you so much for these insights! This was so inspiring!
Suzanne Kellner-Zinck of Dawning Visions Hypnosis On How To Support A Loved One Who Is Struggling… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.