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I'm
not a fan of labels. I don't like the terms "drug
addict" or "alcoholic,
"depressive" etc, simply because they put
someone in a box and create an unhealthy identity for
that person. I prefer to think of us all as human
beings....some of us with difficulties! There's not
much sitting on the fence when it comes to the issue
of addiction. The helping community is pretty much
split into two camps. One camp holds that people can
be responsible for their own lives. The other camp
says no.....people are "victims" of an
"illness" and addictions are a
"medical" illness. With a few exceptions I'm
with camp number one. If that suits you, read on....
Here's
the immediate exception. There are differing levels of
alcoholism. The half a bottle of vodka for breakfast
and another bottle for lunch person would be best
advised to seek "medical" treatment. There
are detox schemes available through your doctor (GP),
or your local social services which can support you
safely through your withdrawal from alcohol, often
supplemented with medication to minimise withdrawal
symptoms. Hypnotherapy could help as an adjunct to
that treatment but if you are drinking that heavily
every day, there are physical withdrawal
considerations and you may need to seek medical
support via a recognised detox scheme to withdraw
safely. With your doctors blessing and that extra
medical support in place I'll be glad to then offer
you some help.
So...what
do we do? How can I help you?
Well,
first of all, it depends what you want? With the
exception of the above state of extreme alcoholism,
hypnotherapy can help with taking control at whatever
level you want. If you want to give up drinking
completely, then we make that our goal and set out to
make it so. If you want to cut down on the amount or
frequency of your drinking then we set goals of
"acceptable" drinking and work to keep
within those boundaries. With or without hypnosis you
will only ever do what you want to do, so it's up to
you to decide where you want to set your boundaries.
You're effectively asking yourself how you would like
things to be, and of course what you can reasonably
live comfortably with. For some people the idea of
never having another glass of wine is awful.....and
unrealistic. If we believe our only choice is to quit
completely or do nothing, then we're likely to do
nothing. Therefore I am NOT a fan of the all or
nothing approach. Neither, thankfully, do we need to
be. It's basically flawed. Alcoholism mythology tells
us "Once an alcoholic always an alcoholic".
As soon as you have a single drink you are back to
step one! The research shows however that many people
ARE able to reform their bad drinking habits and go on
to be able to once again drink sensibly and safely.
Not everyone can do this, but most can. With this in
mind we ask how would you like it to be? What's too
much? What's okay? What can you comfortably live with?
What's reasonable to expect from yourself? Once we
know what you want, and what you can live with, then
we can go about making it so.
Now
it is true that some people are better than others at
"control". Some people are able to simply
cut down the amount they drink....others aren't (or
believe they aren't) built to do it that way, so it
may be that you have to quit altogether for a period
of time to establish control. Then, later you can
slowly re-introduce sensible drinking (only if you
want to) in a CONTROLLED way. It's frequently true
though that with a little application and mindfulness
people are quite easily able to reduce their drinking
levels once the right understanding is in place.
That
understanding includes (but is certainly not limited
to):
-
Understanding
of the brain and its chemistry (Serotonin and the
effects of alcohol)
-
Cultural
context of alcohol use.
-
The
biology of belief (how our biology is affected by
our belief systems)
-
The
psychology of taking control - showing that we
have absolute control when we understand the
rules!
-
Reducing
stress and anxiety, and how this returns control
to the "executive" brain - the frontal
lobe.
-
Understanding
the nature of the emotional mind (limbic system)
as a childlike mind which can be "needy"
and how to feed that mind positively.
-
Ensuring
that our "needs" are met in our lives
adequately so that we don't have to use alcohol to
fill an empty space.
-
Ensuring
that we deal with emotional issues that alcohol
might be acting as an anaesthetic/ anti-depressant
for.
-
Adjusting
what's working/what's not working sensibly instead
of marking setbacks up as a failure (using
feedback).
-
Hypnotherapy
and its application to help us do what we want to
do via suggestion and positive metaphor.
We
could go on....Basically though we can see that
problems with alcohol can range from the very simple
to the very complicated. Some people will need just a
little help because they are drinking more than they
want to but everything is basically okay in their
lives. At this level, we keep things simple. At this
level, we simply work on motivation, mindfulness, and
re-framing (hypnotically) to show the unconscious mind
that it's possible to drink sensibly etc, addressing
any particular "sticking points" for that
person, and finding solutions, as we go. We use
hypnotic suggestion here to ensure that it's
"easy" for the person to take control. In a
way this is treated similarly to smoking; we simply
establish control and then we get on with it. When the
difficulty is at the level where you simply need a
little bit of help establishing control and
"getting on with it" then it's fair to say
that the treatment can be quick, easy, and just what's
needed to help you back into a pattern where you can
once again establish control.
For
other people who are more deeply involved with an
alcohol dependency, we may well need to look at other
areas too and therapy here will be much more involved.
It's a psychological truism that if you are giving up
drinking you should stay away from the pub. If
however, all your friends are big drinkers, we have to
find a way, initially at least, of staying out of that
kind of environment. So we will need to look at
environmental factors, and find solutions to these
obstacles. Also, we need to make sure that your life
is in basic order. If you are depressed or lacking
self esteem (a big factor for many drinkers) then that
needs to be improved too for a permanent sense of
control to be established. Of course, taking control
of your drinking will be the biggest boost of all
here! We need to deal with any painful issues that
might be causing you to need the anaesthetic effect of
alcohol. Failure to address the issues that have
caused you to become a drinker in the first place will
only leave room for drinking to become a problem
again. A long term solution therefore requires a
change of life. So to do our job properly we have to
make sure that your life, and your relationship with
yourself is in order. A life in good order with plenty
of activity, self esteem, and positivity can and will
support a healthy lifestyle. A life in a mess will not
and cannot. So, dealing with an alcohol problem is a
therapy and it is often a journey. It will take time,
diligence, patience and determination. There aren't
I'm afraid any overnight cures. It doesn't work that I
"hypnotise you not to drink any more", and
suddenly you never want another drink. I use hypnosis
to show you and remind you that you can stop/reduce
drinking. We improve your understanding of dependency
and give you tools to extricate yourself from harmful
patterns of thought and behaviour. We work on
improving your relationship with yourself. It's YOU
that then follows through on that promise. No one can
"make" you stop drinking. This is something
you have to do for yourself. With all that said
though, hypnotherapy is a genuinely powerful tool for
creating change, and if you're willing to enter into a
therapeutic arrangement with a view to taking control,
then you'll have an excellent basis for success with
the service I offer. How long it takes is up to you.
There comes a time....perhaps that time is now? To my
mind there's no reason why we can't do it right away!
I do
offer a consultation with a view to beginning
treatment. If you are serious about doing something
about your drinking, you can book
a consultation now with a view to beginning
treatment. If you have any other questions prior to
booking do feel free to contact
me.
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