If you are suffering from an addiction or dependency then hypnotherapy may be able to help you. You could have a severe addiction that is ruining your life, or you might find it is a bit of a nuisance. There are a wide range of different addictions from alcohol to cocaine and gambling to vaping.
Hypnotherapy often uses a two pronged approach towards addictions: a psychotherapy or counselling element along with hypnosis. The talking part of the session helps you to understand why you are addicted to the activity or substance and how you can help yourself. Hypnosis takes you into a lovely relaxing trance state where the hypnotherapist can access the subconscious mind.
The sessions will take anything from 40 minutes to 2 hours, depending on the addiction and approach chosen. The number of sessions can vary between clients and types of addiction. You might just need one hypnotherapy session for smoking or vaping to 8-10 hypnotherapy sessions for long term relief from other addictions.
Addictions can be difficult to understand, particularly when it is happening to you or someone close to you. This is because addictions tend to develop gradually over time. If you have an addiction, then you probably feel compelled to do something regularly that brings you pleasure, enjoyment or helps you to disconnect. However, what starts out as a once a week thing can develop into twice a week and so on until it’s happening every day.
Unfortunately, an often repeated activity or use of a substance leads to changes in the wiring of the brain. These changes are encouraged by increases in the production of the neurotransmitter, dopamine. The more you repeat these activities, the more entrenched the wiring changes become. This creates more dopamine receptors in your brain, leading to a stronger addiction (the more dopamine you have, the more the brain wants to get the same buzz). Eventually, there might come a point where you feel as though the activity is in control of you. Thankfully, these wiring changes can be reversed when you stop.
It isn’t always easy to recognise an addiction in others, as people can be very secretive and sometimes dishonest about the frequency of their addiction. The signs can also vary from person to person. This can be complicated further as there are many different types of addictions.
If you find yourself being dishonest or secretive about the frequency of your usage or activity then you may have an addiction. Other signs can include: avoiding friends and family as you don’t want to face their disapproval; regular absences from work or school and finding it difficult to concentrate while you’re there; telling everyone you can stop anytime, but you don’t want to and know you’d struggle; taking unnecessary risks with your health, safety or finances; losing interest in things that used to be very important to you.
It can be caused by one or more issues:
Hypnotherapy can help to increase your motivation to change. Most hypnotherapists offer a combined approach that incorporates a talking therapy such as counselling or psychotherapy with hypnosis. These elements of the session will help you to understand more about why you are addicted and what you can do about it. This is supported by hypnosis which directly accesses the subconscious mind, relaxing you so that you can let go of any tension and see things from a different viewpoint. Taking a mental step back from the addiction will help you to see ways to cope better with the challenges of life without resorting to your addiction. Through hypnotherapy, your coping strategies will improve along with any associated mental health conditions.
Most hypnotherapy approaches work in two ways, with a blend of talking therapy plus trance. The talking element of the session will help you to look at your addiction from a different perspective. You might explore your current behaviours or thought patterns that are helping to create the addiction. This can happen whether the talking element is a form of counselling, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) or a Solution Focused (SF) approach. The aim is to help give you a better understanding of how to get better.
This will then be followed by a trance session where the therapist will use hypnosis to relax you into a trance state. This is a natural state of focused attention where you will be able to let go of any tension and relax fully. This allows your brain to view your addiction from a different viewpoint and see things differently. When you are in a trance state the predominant brainwaves change from Beta to Alpha and Theta. These allow you to change the way you think and to solve problems more effectively.
Online hypnotherapy is as effective as when it is carried out in-person. Even before lockdown many hypnotherapists were running online hypnotherapy sessions for anxiety. The good news is that there is now evidence to support the effectiveness of online hypnotherapy sessions. Although this research isn’t specific to addictions, it does show that there is little difference between online and in-person hypnotherapy generally. All you would need to take part in an online hypnotherapy session is a laptop, tablet or smartphone and somewhere quiet where you can relax.
Much depends on the level of your commitment. The more committed you are to the hypnotherapy process, the sooner you will see a reduction in the hold that the addiction has on you.
You can expect to see some improvement in your anxiety related symptoms after the first hypnotherapy session. Your sleep pattern might improve a little, particularly if you’re listening to an MP3 download every night. However, you’ll probably need 3-4 sessions before you experience fewer urges to pursue the addiction. In around 8-10 sessions, you should see a consistent reduction in compulsions. Depending on the level of your addiction and your commitment, this might be the point at which you feel ready to go it alone.
As hypnotherapy is considered to be a complementary therapy in the UK, we are not allowed to publish success rates for addiction. Your commitment to the hypnotherapy process is also very important as some will power is required. If you engage with your hypnotherapist and follow their advice, such as listening to an MP3 download every night, then your treatment will be more effective than if you don’t. There is very little research to show that addictions improve because of hypnotherapy. However, if you have an addiction the likelihood is that you also have anxiety or stress related symptoms. A recent meta-analysis carried out in 2018 found that participants in receipt of hypnosis for anxiety improved more than 84% of the control groups who had no hypnotherapy.
The amount of sessions you will need for an addiction will vary from person to person. The questions that your hypnotherapist will ask to help them calculate the number of sessions might include, “How long have you had the addiction or dependency?” or “How severe is the addiction?” Another factor to consider is the level of your commitment. You will see results much more quickly if you do the things suggested by your hypnotherapist. You might be expected to listen to an MP3 download every night or to perform some other task in between sessions.
The cost of hypnotherapy for anxiety can vary from one therapist to another. This will depend on your location and the qualifications and experience your hypnotherapist has. To give you a rough guide, prices can vary from £40- £150 per hour.
Unfortunately, you will probably be unable to access hypnotherapy for addictions through the NHS. This is despite the British Medical Association’s assertion, in their submission of evidence in 2000 to the House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology, that ‘Hypnotherapy and counselling may be considered as orthodox treatments’. Your GP might suggest hypnotherapy as an option for your addiction, but it will be up to you to source and fund your treatment.
Self-hypnosis can help with addiction as all hypnosis is technically self-hypnosis. This is because it is your brain doing the work, with the hypnotherapist as the facilitator. However, it can be difficult to achieve on your own and therefore finding a qualified hypnotherapist to help you initially is the best solution. Once you have experienced going into a trance state a few times with their help, you will find it much easier to go into that same state on your own. It is worth pointing out that the counselling or psychotherapy element of the hypnotherapy session would be missing from any self-help approach and research has suggested that hypnosis is more effective alongside it.
Hypnotherapy can help children with any addictions. In fact, children often find it much easier to go into a trance state than their adult counterparts. This is thought to be because children are more open about trying new things than many adults. Addictions most commonly found in children include smartphone addiction, video gaming addiction and digital addictions.
The side effects from hypnotherapy are generally positive. The deep relaxation you will experience during a hypnotherapy session can sometimes mean you feel dozy immediately afterwards. This is because the trance state is a natural state that we all go into everyday whenever we are focusing on something. Hypnosis can cause us to be temporarily less aware of the outside world. However, a walk in the fresh air will soon bring you back to normal.
Hypnotherapy is not dangerous as the trance state is perfectly natural. We might go into a trance state when we’re reading a book, playing a video game or watching TV. However, hypnotherapy is not suitable for you if you suffer from hallucinations or psychosis. It is also not advisable to be hypnotised while under the influence of alcohol or recreational drugs.
Start out with the basics, Search for “hypnotherapy for addictions near me” in Google or Bing. The results will contain a map with local hypnotherapy businesses. Start looking through their reviews either in the search engine or on their social (Facebook) pages.
The best hypnotherapists will be registered with a professional association and with organisations that are accredited by the professional standards authority. There are only two in the UK and they are the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC) and the National Hypnotherapy Society.
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