Addiction

Hypnotherapy for Addiction

Addiction is our body’s response to a dangerous or threatening situation. As humans, we have a natural tendency to seek pleasure and avoid pain. When we experience pleasure from something, our brain produces dopamine and other feel good chemicals, creating a sense of high or euphoria. This is why people often become addicted to substances or behaviours that provide an immediate gratification.

Addiction may be experienced as an obsessive craving for drugs or alcohol, or compulsively engaging in behaviours such as gambling, shopping or eating. We can also experience addiction in more subtle forms such as social media, technology or work. Addiction often results from a belief that we need something to feel good or cope with stress - “I need a drink to relax”, “I need my phone to feel connected”, “I need to eat to distract myself”. When our needs are not met, or we feel life is somehow unfulfilling, we can become addicted.

Sometimes, addiction may be a learned response. As a child, we may have used certain behaviours to cope with difficult emotions and have continued this behaviour into adulthood. Or we may have grown up in an environment where addiction was normalised and be conditioned to act in a similar way. We now know that feeling of addiction does not help to relieve it. Put simply, addiction gets out of control, it may lead to physical and mental health problems. Therefore, it is important that we learn to control addictive thoughts and behaviours, to enable us to choose a healthier way to cope with stress.

Hypnotherapy helps to calm down the addictive response, thereby reducing the amount of craving you feel. We help to put you back into control by teaching you how to remain calm, focused and balanced, so that you can cope more effectively with the challenges of life without the need for addictive substances or behaviours.

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