Producer Bethany Denton found a box in her basement storage room with two old cassette tapes inside. It took her a moment to realize what they were.
Content Note: Descriptions of disordered eating
Bethany has been fat her whole life, even when she was a kid. She ate hidden stashes of food when she felt anxious. By the time she was eleven years old, Bethany’s parents worried she would have health problems as as an adult, and they thought weight-loss hypnotherapy could help. The hypnotherapist tried to guide Bethany’s subconscious mind into making choices that would help her lose weight, like developing the ability to control her hunger with an imaginary dial in her mind. The hypnotherapist had Bethany visualize her favorite greasy, salty potato chips covered in vomit. She had Bethany visualize her ideal, thin body, and affirmed that this ideal body was “who you really are.” The therapist recorded their sessions and gave them to Bethany on cassette tapes. She was supposed to use them to relax.
Fifteen years later, Bethany never lost the weight, never achieved that ideal body. But she doesn't really eat potato chips anymore either.
For information about treatment for disordered eating, visit The Emily Program.
Producer: Bethany Denton
Editor: Jeff Emtman
Music: The Black Spot
Do you have questions about how the show is made? Ever wonder how Jeff and Bethany work together? Who the hell is this “Nick White” guy? Give us a call, and we’ll answer it in an upcoming mailbag episode. Call us at (765) 374 - 5263 or email us a voice memo.
💖 Be sure to check out our merch, and don’t miss our Meat Poster—just in time for Valentine’s Day. 💖
HBM144: Keeping A Place
HBM143: Laughing Rats and Dawn Rituals
HBM142: The Vastness of the Universe
HBM141: Filthy Riches
Season 9 = February 17th
HBM Continues as an Independent Podcast
HBM140: The New Black Wall Street
HBM139: Acceptable Pains
HBM138: Did Neanderthals Bury their Dead?
HBM137: Superhappiness
HBM136: Jacob's Lost Biography
HBM135: Dying Well
HBM134: Questionable Hobbies of the Socially Isolated
HBM133: Prey of Worms
HBM132: Moral Enhancement
HBM131: A Cure for Carsickness
HBM130: Mother Pigeon / Sister Marta
HBM129: The Underearthlings
HBM128: Seeing Auras
HBM127: QALYs
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