The Emotional Causes of Obesity:
5 Holistic Medicine Perspectives

 Why 5 healing systems—New German Medicine, Ayurveda, TCM, Bio-Decoding & Psychology—all link obesity to abandonment.

By Javier Ramon Brito 

Introduction: When Ancient Wisdom Meets Modern Understanding

Across continents, cultures, and centuries, healing traditions have observed something profound: our bodies tell the stories our mouths cannot speak. When we examine obesity through the lens of diverse healing systems—from German biological medicine to ancient Ayurveda, from Traditional Chinese Medicine to modern psychology—a striking pattern emerges. Despite arising from completely different cultural contexts and theoretical frameworks, these systems converge on a singular insight: obesity is fundamentally rooted in abandonment and the emotional wounds of feeling unloved, unseen, or cast aside.

This article explores how five major healing perspectives—New German Medicine, Bio-decoding, Ayurveda, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and modern body-centered psychology—all arrive at remarkably similar conclusions about the emotional origins of excess weight.

New German Medicine (GNM): The Biological Survival Response

New German Medicine, developed by Dr. Ryke Geerd Hamer, views all disease as the body's biological response to specific emotional conflicts. In GNM's framework, obesity is directly linked to what it terms the "abandonment conflict" or AIRE conflict (Abandonment, Isolation, Refugee, Existence).

The Biological Logic of Abandonment

The reasoning is primal and elegant: In nature, when a young animal becomes separated from its mother or pack, it faces certain death. Without nourishment and protection, abandonment equals extinction. The biological program that activates in response is clear—store every possible bit of nourishment as fat because survival is at stake.

The Kidney Connection

In GNM, abandonment conflicts affect the kidney collecting tubules. When this conflict is active, the kidneys "tighten up," leading to:
• Minimum fluid excretion
• Maximum fluid retention
• Dramatic water weight gain (up to 10 liters or more in both kidneys)

Two liters of retained water weighs approximately 4.5 pounds. When both kidneys are holding conflict, a person can retain ten times that amount. In this way, obesity becomes "locked in"—not just through fat accumulation but through massive fluid retention that the body refuses to release until it feels safe again.

The Existential Core

At its heart, the abandonment conflict is existential. It whispers: "I am alone. I have been cast out. I must survive on my own reserves because no one will feed me, protect me, or care whether I live or die." The body responds by becoming a fortress of stored energy, preparing for the famine of love.

Bio-Decoding (Biodescodificación): The Unconscious Made Visible

Bio-decoding, popular in Spanish and French-speaking countries, takes a similar approach to GNM but adds layers of psychological nuance. According to this system, excess weight is the physical manifestation of unresolved emotional burdens—the weight we carry emotionally becomes the weight we carry physically.

The Seven Conflicts of Fat Accumulation

Bio-decoding identifies seven specific emotional conflicts that lead to obesity, with abandonment at the core:

1. Feeling alone in a hostile world – Triggers fluid retention.
2. Lack of food conflict – Creates biological reserves.
3. Feeling lost without direction – Affects adrenals and cortisol.
4. Self-devaluation and powerlessness in abandonment – Increases abdominal fat to "be seen".
5. Camouflage and transformation conflict – Protection from predators-.
6. Frontal fear conflict – Constant danger perception.
7. Biological clock conflict – Thyroid disruption.

Protection Through Visibility and Invisibility

Bio-decoding recognizes a paradox: sometimes we gain weight to become visible ("Notice me! I exist! I matter!"), and sometimes we gain weight to become invisible ("Don't see me as sexual. Don't approach me. I'm protected by this barrier.").

The excess weight serves multiple protective functions:

• Physical barrier against emotional pain
• Defense against unwanted sexual attention (a less sexualized body feels safer)
• Making oneself "big" enough to be seen and valued
• Creating literal weight to match the emotional weight of secrets, shame, or family burdens

Where Fat Accumulates Tells the Story

Bio-decoding is particularly specific about fat location:

Abdomen: Protection of emotions, unresolved grief, family secrets, or maternal conflicts (protecting children or the desire for children one cannot have);

Thighs: Relationship with parents as "pillars," autonomy issues, or protection against sexual abuse;

Arms: "Need to be strong to fight"—feeling one must constantly do more;

Back: Feeling burdened, carrying responsibilities that don't belong to you;

Neck: Protection from judgment about one's words.

The body becomes a map of our unspoken stories.

Ayurveda: Weakened Agni and Suppressed Emotions

The ancient Indian system of Ayurveda approaches obesity through the lens of constitutional types (doshas), digestive fire (agni), and the accumulation of toxins (ama). Yet even this 5,000-year-old tradition recognizes emotional factors as primary.

The Physical Framework

Ayurveda sees obesity as:
• Imbalanced Kapha dosha (earth and water elements)—slow metabolism, accumulation; • Weakened Agni (digestive fire)—improper metabolism and toxic buildup; • Disrupted Medha Dhatu (adipose tissue)—improper fat metabolism.

The Emotional Undercurrent

But physical imbalances don't arise in a vacuum. Ayurveda explicitly identifies destructive mental and emotional patterns as key causative factors:

• Fear
• Anxiety
• Stress
• Anger
• Envy
• Guilt
• Hatred
• Suppressed emotions

When we turn to food for emotional relief, when we eat to manage stress or fill the void of sadness, we disrupt our natural eating rhythms and extinguish our digestive fire. Vata imbalances create erratic, emotional eating. Stress-related eating and disturbed sleep compound the problem.

The Loss of Inner Fire

What Ayurveda calls "weak agni," we might understand as the loss of our inner vitality—the spark that transforms not just food but also experiences into nourishment. When we feel abandoned, when fear and suppressed emotions dominate, that inner fire dims. What cannot be metabolized emotionally cannot be metabolized physically.

Traditional Chinese Medicine: Liver Qi Stagnation and Dampness

Traditional Chinese Medicine offers yet another angle that arrives at the same destination. In TCM, obesity is primarily understood as "dampness-heat syndrome" with the Liver, Spleen, and Kidneys playing central roles.

The Liver: The Seat of Unhappiness

The Liver meridian in TCM governs the smooth flow of Qi (energy) throughout the body. When Liver Qi becomes stagnant—typically due to stress, frustration, and unexpressed emotions—it creates a cascade of problems:

• Weakens the Spleen (digestion)
• Retards fluid movement
• Leads to accumulation of dampness and phlegm
• Can generate internal heat
• Forms damp-heat or phlegm-heat patterns
• Impairs the Gallbladder and bile distribution
• Can lead to gallstones, further impairing digestion

Dr. John Diamond's Insight

Australian psychiatrist Dr. John Diamond, who integrated meridian theory with Western psychology (see his book "Life Energy") made explicit what TCM implies: The Liver meridian is associated with happiness (positive) and unhappiness (negative).

According to Diamond, happiness arises from feeling that those who control our destiny—whether parents, fortune, the gods, or loved ones—are benevolent toward us. We feel happy when we believe we are smiled upon, when those who can give to us are giving freely.

Unhappiness arises when we feel that benevolent figures withhold from us—when a mother doesn't smile, when the lover abandons, when fortune turns its back. This unhappiness weakens the Liver meridian, which then creates the entire cascade toward obesity: stagnant Qi, weakened Spleen, accumulated dampness, retained fluids, and excess weight.

The Spleen and Kidneys

The Spleen in TCM is responsible for transforming food into energy. When weakened by Liver Qi stagnation or by constitutional factors, it fails to transform properly, leading to dampness accumulation—the TCM equivalent of fat and fluid retention.

The Kidneys govern metabolism and the endocrine system. As Kidney yang (metabolic fire) declines—often with age or chronic stress—metabolism slows further, compounding the problem.

The Emotional-Physical Loop

In TCM's view, chronic emotional suppression (especially anger, frustration, and grief) → Liver Qi stagnation → Spleen weakness → dampness accumulation → obesity. The pattern is clear: unexpressed emotion becomes stagnant energy, which becomes accumulated matter.

Modern Psychology: Wilhelm Reich and Character Armor

Wilhelm Reich, often called the father of the mind-body connection in Western psychology, made revolutionary observations in the early 20th century: Children who experienced the same emotional conflicts developed the same body types. This wasn't metaphor or theory—it was observable, repeatable physical reality.

Character Armor: When Emotion Becomes Flesh

Reich coined the term "character armor" to describe how psychological defenses against anxiety, fear, anger, and pain literally manifest in the body's musculature and structure. The emotional blocks create physical blocks—tension in distinct bands or "segments" throughout the body (jaw, chest, diaphragm, pelvis).

Over time, these holding patterns don't just create tension—they shape the entire body structure, including patterns of weight distribution.

The Five Character Structures

Reich identified five basic character structures, each with distinctive body types:

1. The Schizoid Structure: Result of not feeling wanted, even in the womb—a fundamental existential abandonment.

2. The Oral Structure: Develops from early abandonment, neglect, or insufficient nurturing:
• Collapsed chest, hunched shoulders;
• Head jutting forward;
• Weak arms;
• Difficulty sustaining energy;
• Chronic sense of "not enough".

3. The Masochist Structure: Forms when a child feels trapped, burdened, controlled:
• Thick, compressed body, especially around the midsection;
• Heavy, dense musculature;
• Carrying too much weight (literally and metaphorically);
• Difficulty saying no, chronic over-responsibility.

4. The Psychopathic/Upwardly Displaced Structure: Results from manipulation and narcissistic use by parents: • Energy pulled up into the head and upper body;
• Disconnection from lower body and feelings.

5. The Rigid Structure: Forms when childhood sexuality is shamed
• Often beautiful but armored;
• Split between heart (chest) and pelvis—love and sex separated;
• Emotional rigidity despite attractive appearance.

The Weight of Unprocessed Emotion

Reich's insight was profound: The body literally embodies unresolved emotional conflicts. What we cannot express, we suppress. What we suppress, we carry as physical armor, tension, and yes—excess weight.

The oral structure's collapse and the masochist structure's compression and thickness are direct physical manifestations of abandonment, burden, and the loss of the right to simply exist and receive love freely.

The Remarkable Convergence: All Roads Lead to Abandonment

When we step back and survey these five distinct systems—developed independently across different continents, cultures, and centuries—the convergence is breathtaking:

New German Medicine
Abandonment conflict → Kidney collecting tubules activate → Maximum fluid/fat retention → Obesity.
Biological logic: "I've been abandoned. I must store everything to survive."

Bio-Decoding
Abandonment, feeling invisible, need for protection → Fat accumulation in specific patterns → Obesity.
Psychological logic: "I carry the weight of abandonment. I need protection. I must be seen."

Ayurveda
Suppressed emotions (fear, anxiety, abandonment) → Weakened Agni → Ama accumulation → Kapha imbalance → Obesity.
Energetic logic: "My inner fire is extinguished by unexpressed emotion. I cannot metabolize anything."

Traditional Chinese Medicine
Emotional suppression/unhappiness → Liver Qi stagnation → Spleen weakness → Dampness accumulation → Obesity.
Meridian logic: "I feel that the benevolent source has withdrawn. My energy stagnates and accumulates."

Modern Psychology (Reich)
Early abandonment/burden → Character armor → Oral/Masochist structure → Body collapse/compression → Weight retention.
Somatic logic: "My body holds what my heart couldn't process. The weight I carry emotionally becomes the weight I carry physically."

The Core Truth

All five systems, despite their vastly different languages and frameworks, are describing the same fundamental phenomenon:

When we feel abandoned, unloved, cast out, or existentially alone, our bodies respond by creating weight—through fat storage, fluid retention, slowed metabolism, and physical armor. The excess weight serves multiple survival functions: storing energy against future deprivation, creating physical protection, making ourselves visible when we feel invisible, or building barriers against further hurt.

Obesity, from this holistic perspective, is not a failure of willpower or simply "eating too much." It is an intelligent, albeit painful, biological and psychological adaptation to the wound of abandonment.

Practical Implications: Healing the Root

If abandonment is the root cause, then healing obesity requires more than calorie restriction or exercise—it requires healing the abandonment wound itself.

Questions for Self-Inquiry

• When did I first feel abandoned, invisible, or unloved?
• What am I protecting myself from with this weight?
• What would it mean to feel truly safe without this armor?
• Whose love am I still waiting for?
• What would I need to believe about myself and the world to release this weight?

Some Therapeutic Approaches You can Follow

a) Somatic therapies** (following Reich's work): Releasing held tension and trauma from the body through bodywork, breath work, and movement.

b) Emotional release work: Processing suppressed emotions, especially grief, fear, and rage related to abandonment.

c) Meridian-based therapies: Acupuncture, EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique), or other energy work to restore the flow of energy.

d) Ayurvedic approaches: Rekindling Agni through appropriate diet (e,gr. a Kapha pacifying diet), lifestyle, stress reduction, and addressing emotional patterns.

e) Psychotherapy: Working through attachment wounds, childhood trauma, and developing secure internal attachment.

f) Nervous system regulation: Helping the body move out of chronic survival mode (sympathetic activation) into safety (parasympathetic activation).

The Core Healing Principle

The body will not release what it perceives it needs for survival. Until we address the core belief—"I am alone, I am not safe, no one will care for me"—the body will continue to hold weight as protection and insurance.

Healing happens when we can finally internalize a new truth: "I am not abandoned. I am worthy of love. I am safe in my body. I can release this weight because I no longer need this armor."

Conclusion: The Body's Wisdom

What appears as a convergence across healing systems may actually be something more fundamental: the recognition of a universal human truth. Our bodies are not machines that simply malfunction. They are exquisitely intelligent systems that respond to our emotional reality with perfect, albeit sometimes painful, logic.

When we feel abandoned, our bodies respond with the ancient wisdom of survival: store, protect, guard, hold on. The weight we carry is not our enemy—it is our body's attempt to keep us alive in the face of what it perceives as existential threat.

The path to healing, then, is not through fighting our bodies but through listening to them. What is this weight protecting me from? What old story of abandonment am I still living? What would it take for my body to feel safe enough to let go?

Across five distinct healing traditions—New German Medicine, Bio-decoding, Ayurveda, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and modern psychology—the answer is the same: We must heal the wound of abandonment itself. We must return home to ourselves. We must remember that we are, and always have been, worthy of love, presence, and belonging.

Only then will the body release what it no longer needs to hold.

From Understanding to Transformation: A Guided Path to Healing

Now that you understand the profound emotional roots of obesity—the abandonment wound that lives in your cells, the ancient survival mechanisms your body has activated to protect you—the question becomes: how do we gently guide the body back to safety? How do we communicate to the deepest parts of ourselves that it's finally safe to let go?

This is where the power of the subconscious mind becomes essential. Your conscious understanding is the first step, but lasting transformation happens when your subconscious—the part of you that controls your metabolism, cravings, and automatic responses—receives a new message: "You are safe. You are loved. You can release this weight now."

I've created a Self-Hypnosis for Weight Loss session specifically designed to bridge this gap between understanding and embodied healing. This 7-minute guided hypnosis gently reprograms your subconscious mind, helping you release old beliefs about struggle and deprivation while reconnecting with your body's natural ability to achieve its ideal, healthy weight.

Whether you use this hypnosis as a daily practice or listen before sleep, each session strengthens the new neural pathways of safety, self-love, and trust in your body's wisdom. Because true healing doesn't come from fighting your body—it comes from finally feeling safe enough to come home to it.

Listen to the Self-Hypnosis for Weight Loss here→https://musicbrito.com/self-hypnosis-for-weight-loss