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Does Hypnotherapy Work For Addictions

Can Your Body Heal If You Stop Drinking Alcohol

Hypnosis For Addiction – Does It Work?

Alcohol causes a wide range of negative impacts on the body. Drinking in excess can increase cancer, diabetes, and liver disease risk, among other severe conditions.

Drinking alcohol causes several other unpleasant effects, such as:

  • Depression
  • Foggy concentration.

Living alcohol-free offers many health benefits.

Alcohol lowers the bodys immune system. When you stop drinking alcohol, your body will be able to heal from illness much more quickly.

Research has also found that hypnosis can even alter a persons immune function in ways that offset stress and reduce susceptibility to viral infections.

How Hypnosis For Drug Addiction Work

When someone is under the effects of hypnosis, theyre more passive and compliant with the therapists suggestions. People are more open to fantasy, sometimes can access long-forgotten memories, and become more imaginative. Thanks to this, they can adopt a different perspective on their addictive behaviors. Suddenly, what seemed impossible, like quitting an addictive substance, seems achievable and desirable.

One study found that of all participants that received hypnotherapy, 90% completed treatment. After six months of completing treatment, 100% of them were still clean and sober. After the two-year mark, almost 78% of those in the study remained abstinent. These results position hypnotherapy as a useful tool for addressing long-term drug and alcohol recovery.

While this study was done on a small group, it shows the potential of hypnosis for drug addiction treatment. When incorporated with other evidence-based therapies like CBT, hypnosis can help:

Treatment Of Addictions With Hypnotherapy

Its important to use the NLP technique of Collapsing Anchors when working with substance and food addictions such as smoking, alcohol, drugs, and binge eating as this will help to curb the craving for the desired substance

Using the NLP technique of Reframing an Unwanted Behavior can be used with behavioral addictions such as gambling, work, shopping, raging, exercise, etc

  • Stopping the behavior: using the NLP technique of collapsing anchors or reframing an unwanted behavior.
  • Age regression to uncover any abuse, codependency, boundary violations, and repressed emotions to express.
  • Inner child work using the Wise Adult for reparenting, creating healthy boundaries, and educating the child about healthy family rules.
  • Soul retrieval: Discover what has been lost? Loss of independence, loss of security and trust, loss of innocence, loss of freedom. loss of _____ etc
  • Don’t Miss: How To Live With An Addict

    Adding Hypnosis To An Evidence

    How does hypnotherapy work at a good-quality rehab facility? Caring therapists put together a set of evidence-based treatments. Doing so is instrumental in helping you overcome addiction. Examples include:

    • Couples therapy program that deals with enabling, poor communication patterns, and trust issues that result in triggers
    • Cognitive-behavioral therapy that lets you replace dysfunctional patterns with functional ones
    • Dialectical behavior treatment, which emphasizes your ability to take control of intense feelings that typically overrule rational actions
    • REBT program participation that helps you recognize and change irrational beliefs and emotional reactions to them
    • EMDR therapy program, which benefits people with traumatic situations from the past that they need to reprocess to eliminate substance abuse triggers

    Does Hypnosis Work With Those Caught Up In Addiction

    Does Hypnosis Work For Drug Addiction?

    One of the drawbacks with hypnotherapy is the person needs to be sober in order for it to be effective. If hypnosis is attempted on those who are inebriated, they are likely to fall asleep or just forget what happens during the session. For this reason, hypnotherapy may be a better option for those already in early recovery but need help to deal with cravings and cope with the challenges of this new life.

    Hypnotherapy requires that the person is able to concentrate, which is the other reason it is unlikely to be effective for those still drinking. If individuals are in the withdrawal stage, their thinking may be a bit fuzzy but they may still have enough concentration to gain some benefit from the hypnosis. In order to get the most benefit from this technique though, it is probably best to wait until after the initial stage of withdrawals.

    There are now many books, audio sessions, YouTube videos, and smart phone apps that promise to hypnotise people and produce positive results. The jury is still out on the effectiveness of these products, but it is generally understood that face-to-face hypnotherapy with a qualified therapist is far more effective. This is because hypnosis is as much about a level of trust between the client and therapist as it is about anything else.

    Recommended Reading: How To Stop Nasal Spray Addiction

    Some Studies Show Promise In Treating Addiction

    Weâre currently on an upswing in scientific interest in hypnosis and a number of studies have found some promising results in using hypnosis to treat addiction. For example, one small study found that treatment that included hypnosis for alcohol use disorder led to an impressive 77 percent sobriety rate after one year. Another small study of people with opioid use disorder found that hypnosis helped all participants remain abstinent from all drugs for six months and 56 percent remained abstinent from heroin for two years. These were small preliminary studies but they suggest hypnosis may be a useful tool for addiction treatment.

    Addictive Thinking Vs Being ‘an Addict’

    Saying “I am an addict’ is a traditional first step to tackle drug and alcohol abuse. Although this approach is based on the idea that we have to admit we have a problem if we hope to overcome it, the problem with this approach, in my opinion, is that it puts a label on the person which is difficult to shake: in fact it drives the person to see the drug abuse as part of their identity and this can be a double edge sword.

    Although physical addiction does exist, it is far less important and much easier to overcome than addictive thinking. It is addictive thinking that keeps the addict going back to the drug, no matter what the drug may be: alcohol, sex, gambling, shopping, heroine etc. Of course recovery and health does start with admitting that one has a problem and has not been able to resolve it on their own. The first step in any assisted treatment is to want to get better and to want the help offered. Nobody can be helped that does not want to help themselves.

    However, instead of labelling oneself as an addict I find a much better approach is to see ourselves as a fallible human being who is trying to find a way towards psychological healing by engaging in a way of thinking and behaving that ultimately is not going to give us the result we crave, but, in fact, the exact opposite. In other words, someone struggling with addiction is a person trying to solve a problem using a strategy that does not work. The therapist’s job is to show them a strategy that does.

    Read Also: Is Nicotine Addictive By Itself

    Reframe The Mind For Long

    A person who is struggling to keep clean may find it hard to motivate himself/herself. A trained professional hypnotherapist can increase the motivation of a person working on his/her sobriety by planting positive thoughts and helpful suggestions into the persons subconscious.

    Examples of suggestions include:

    • I love that I am in control of my recovery.
    • My mental health has never been better.
    • I can feel my mind clearing up.
    • I can control my cravings.
    • This treatment will be the beginning of my second chance at life.

    and so on.

    Drug And Alcohol Addiction

    Hypnosis for alcoholism… does it work?

    Whats an addiction?

    An addiction is something that, put simply, has become out of control. In many cases, your addiction started off as something positive – a desire to run, to lose weight, to relax.

    But it becomes an addiction when you no longer have control over what youre doing, taking or using.

    It has a negative effect not just on you, but on your family, on your work, on those around you.

    So, how can hypnotherapy help with that?

    It’s all in the mind…

    Recommended Reading: How To Beat My Sugar Addiction

    Central Concepts Of Hypnotherapy

    Hypnotherapy relies on a model of the mind that includes conscious and subconscious aspects.1 These two parts of the mind have different functions and work together to help people navigate daily life. The concepts of these two categories of mind serve as a useful tool to help people elicit the positive changes they are seeking.

    Is Hypnotherapy Effective For Addiction

    Hypnosis as entertainment became popular in the United States in the 1980s. As a result, some health professionals lost faith in the practice as a treatment for dependence.

    However, the application of hypnosis for dependence is regaining credibility, and there have been many studies over the past several decades showing its effectiveness including:

    • A study of 18 patients completed in 2004 showed that participants receiving intensive daily hypnosis sessions had a 77% success rate after a one-year follow-up.5
    • A study of 4 groups of veterans showed that hypnosis can be a useful adjunct in helping those with chronic substance misuse with their reported self-esteem, serenity, and anger/impulsivity.6
    • An unusual case worth mentioning is of a woman with a five-gram per day cocaine dependence who used hypnosis to overcome her dependence . Her withdrawal and recovery were extraordinary because hypnosis was the only intervention, and no support network of any kind was available.7
    • A study including70 volunteers in a methadone maintenance program found that those who received hypnotherapy experienced much less discomfort and illicit drug use, but a significantly greater number of withdrawals. At six-month follow-up, 94% of the subjects in the experimental group who had achieved withdrawal remained narcotic-free.8

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    Can Hypnosis Help You Overcome Addiction

    Hypnosis has been around for hundreds of years, and during that time, its reputation has periodically risen, fallen, and risen again. It has been used for everything from entertainment to battlefield surgery and some attribute to it near-magical abilities while others believe itâs pure nonsense. Using hypnosis to treat anything is generally based on the idea that if you can directly affect your subconscious mind in some way, you can dramatically change your experience of reality, whether youâre on stage believing youâre a chicken or undergoing surgery without pain.

    The idea that you could use this power to overcome addiction is tantalizing. Wouldnât it be great, for example, if someone set a glass of beer in front of you and instead of feeling a powerful desire to chug it, you only felt bland indifference? This is the dream that has been sold to many people trying to overcome various substance use issues. As with many treatment methods, hypnosis appears to be a bit of a mixed bag. Here are some of the things hypnosis can and canât do.

    Can Hypnotherapy Treat Alcohol Addiction

    Does Hypnotherapy Work For Addiction Treatment?

    Hypnotherapy is not a proven technique for alcohol addiction treatment, but it may be used as an alternative treatment method to aid in the recovery process alongside techniques like dialectical behavioral therapy that are evidence-based. While there is no research to support that hypnotherapy is an effective means of treatment, there are some who believe in its power.

    Those who support the use of hypnotherapy for alcohol addiction treatment claim that it can help the participant understand why their behaviors qualify as use and not merely use. Also, it may help them learn and understand how to implement good behaviors in place of old, destructive behaviors resulting from use. Further, during hypnosis, a person may be able to examine his or her life. This allows the person to pinpoint the areas that need change in order to cope and to view alcohol in a different light.

    Many people suffering from alcohol use find it hard to admit that they have a substance use problem. For this reason, alcohol use can go untreated for years, but recovery is possible.

    This page does not provide medical advice.

    Also Check: What Are The Two Types Of Addiction

    What Methods Are Used In Hypnotherapy Treatment

    Various articles and studies have shown that hypnotic behavioral treatment is effective in addressing substance use. A medical professional can combine one or more of the following methods:

    • Cognitive-behavioral therapy: a patient pinpoints and avoids situations that trigger drug use
    • Motivational incentives or positive reinforcement: when a therapist makes positive suggestions to improve overall mental health, it also encourages the patient to abstain from drugs.

    Most of these treatment methods are outpatient and performed one-on-one. In a rehab setting, these kinds of treatment may be done as part of group counseling.

    Does Hypnotherapy Work For Addiction Treatment

    Jan 24, 2020 | Rehab Treatment

    Hypnosis is something weve all heard about at one point in our lives. We often think of a magician performing on stage in front of hundreds of people. To us, hypnosis often means getting some to fall asleep at the sound of fingers snapping or getting someone to speak in an accent different from their own. This magic trick often makes people extremely susceptible to suggestion which causes these people to perform actions outside of the norm. However, hypnosis is more than just a magic trick, it can be used as a form of therapy and can even help treat people who are actively struggling with addiction. Lets take a deeper look into what hypnosis is really like and what hypnotherapy can do for a person struggling with addiction.

    Also Check: How To Get Help For Drug Addiction Without Money

    Does Hypnosis Work For Addiction

    Posted by Abheek Bhadury | Feb 13, 2018 | Addiction Recovery | 0 |

    We have all been to magic shows where the magician appears to control someones mind through hypnosis and then makes them do various tasks. But I am also sure that each one of us must have figured that the participant was in on it and that hypnosis isnt really possible. Well, qualified people can actually control peoples minds. If that is possible, can hypnosis for addiction work too? Hypnotherapy is a form of alternative medicine that has helped people through several mental problems. Read on to know how hypnotherapy can help an addict.

    Fight Urges With Negative Association

    Hypnotherapy For Alcoholism And Problem Drinking Does It Work?

    Whenever you a see a skull and bones symbol, you instantly know it is dangerous and hence you choose not to go near there. This is because as we were young, our brains were programmed to be afraid of that sign and to perceive it as danger. Similarly, with the help of hypnosis, therapists can help us associate an addictive substance to an unpleasant feeling for memory. This way, whenever you have the urge to consume something, you are instantly hit by an unpleasant feeling like nausea and you dont have the desire to try it anymore.

    Recommended Reading: How To Get Rid Of Fast Food Addiction

    Can You Get Hypnosis To Stop Drinking

    Hypnosis is used to treat alcohol dependency, addiction, or abuse. Hypnotherapists help patients curb binge drinking, address problem drinking, or quit drinking altogether.

    When used to stop drinking, hypnosis should only be performed by qualified healthcare professionals. This includes psychologists, physicians, nurses, or therapists licensed for this technique.

    A trained hypnotherapist should never be confused with a stage hypnotist, who uses hypnosis for entertainment and is unqualified to use hypnosis as a medical treatment.

    Patients who wish to address their alcohol consumption through hypnotherapy should speak with an addiction specialist. They may determine whether a patient is a good candidate for hypnotherapy and provide a referral to a licensed hypnotherapist.

    ALCOHOL REHAB HELP

    Does Hypnosis Work For Drug Addiction

    Hypnosis or hypnotherapy is the process of using relaxation techniques to induce suggestions on the mind, which then affect the conscious mind, which is thought to be effective in treating substance use disorders related to behavioral problems. While often a subject of contention in medical circles, hypnosis is a commonly sought out treatment for drug addiction, with patients and their families relying on professional and non-professional hypnotics to relieve damaging behavior patterns related to drug abuse.

    If you or a loved one is addicted to drugs or alcohol, hypnosis can seem like a relatively easy treatment solution to help work around compulsive drug use symptoms. However, there is a lot you should know about hypnosis and its effects on the mind and drug addiction before relying on it as your only solution.

    Read Also: How To Help An Addict In Denial

    What Would A Hypnotherapy Session Be Like

    Hypnotherapy starts with a consultation during which the two parties can discuss a variety of personal details for the participant. In subsequent sessions, hypnosis can begin. The pace of this alternative treatment is different for each person but often is structured around the following format:

    • Introductory greeting and conversation to foster relaxation and comfort
    • Induction: during this point, the participant hopes to enter a state of deeply relaxed physical calm
    • While the person is in this deeply relaxed state, the leader is able to start the change work during which the techniques and approaches previously agreed upon are used
    • After this stage is complete, the person will slowly come back to wakefulness
    • Questions and discussion

    Validation Of Hypnotherapy As A Treatment

    Does Hypnosis Work for Drug Addiction?

    Increasingly, research has shown the critical role that hypnosis can play in treating psychological and physiological problems including the following conditions:

    Pain

    Hypnotized volunteers are up to 50% more capable of handling painful stimuli . Scans reveal that hypnosis can lower activity in the brains anterior cingulate cortex, linking sensory stimuli to emotional and behavioral responses, and switch off pain signals.

    Some studies suggest that hypnosis is more effective than standard medical care when used to reduce pain during labor and childbirth .

    Gastrointestinal

    Gastrointestinal disorders have a significant impact on the quality of life of children. And despite being recognized as the product of the interaction of mindbraingut, standard medical treatments offer little relief.

    However, hypnosis, particularly when explained to the patient before treatment to build trust, appears to reduce pain perception successfully .

    Dermatological

    Hypnosis is also proving successful as a treatment for skin disorders and has been used in dermatology to reduce habits such as scratching while promoting healing.

    Without side effects, such treatment, along with meditation and biofeedback, can have positive results where others have failed .

    Depression

    Hypnosis is increasingly used as a treatment for depression and is as effective at relieving symptoms of depression as psychological interventions attempting to treat patterns of distorted cognition .

    Stress

    Surgery

    Recommended Reading: How Do People Get Addicted To Opioids

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