Alcohol Hypnosis

Re-program your subconscious, your neurology and re-design your life in a way that you can deal with the issues that brought about alcohol , that you can not only face your challenges in a constructive and life-affirming way, but that you can actually begin to feel alive and enjoy your life once again.

As with all behavior problems, it is very difficult for a person to acknowledge the existence of a drinking problem and this means that people suffer for many more years than is necessary. It is often confused with recurring depression and high anxiety levels which are not relieved by conventional treatments, and a failure to identify the role of alcohol in these conditions often means a failure to refer for the correct treatment.

How common is it?

Alcohol Dependency is by far the most common  and is responsible for the deaths of many thousands of people every year. 

How do I know if I have it?

People who are concerned should always seek professional assessment. The self assessment questionnaire on this site may give further insight. Some symptoms are more easily detected: 1) loss of control once drinking has started; 2) withdrawal symptoms ranging from mild tremors to frightening hallucinations; 3) Noticeable changes in the effects alcohol has on the individual over time.

How do people develop it?

The condition is characterized by the fact that the sufferer, despite many attempts at control, finds that their drinking and the attendant consequences continues to get worse over the period, and the dependent person’s guilt, shame and remorse levels become increasingly more burdensome. Attempts to stop can result in withdrawal symptoms which are relieved by taking more alcohol. Attempts at control (‘just a couple of drinks won’t hurt’) almost always end in drunkenness, and things seem to get progressively worse. In extremes, suicide may seem the best option as depression and severe anxiety coupled with feelings of hopelessness and helplessness often accompany alcohol.

Can it be inherited?

Although an actual gene has not been identified there is considerable evidence of genetic predisposition to the illness, through studies of twins and apocryphal evidence.

Can it be cured?

Hypnosis is has been highly effective in overcoming alcohol. Alcoholism is almost impossible to overcome alone, but with the help of hypnotic conditioning, a large number of people find recovery.

Some of the Hardships Alcoholics Face:

          Anxiety, restlessness, irritability and insomnia

          Elevated blood pressure, temperature, pulse and respiration

          Confusion, hyper vigilance and disorientation

          Visual and auditory hallucinations, acute psychotic behavior

          Grand mal seizures

          Infrequently, sudden death

The Dilemna

“The behavior attempts to repair a state of bad feeling but is a Faustian Bargain that perpetuates itself and often asks the ultimate price. It can be compared to an unhealthy, fanatical love. Unnatural and arbitrary hedonic management by substances or stereotyped processes distorts and cripples the psyche and places the individual at a grave survival disadvantage. It is is double-minded because he cannot really and truly desire recovery until he already has it. Recovery is about restoring natural, spontaneous and healthy regulation of mood and feelings. Because they may be seriously impaired in their self-care and self-management they often require prolonged help learning to feel well without resorting to the “tricks”.” Abstract of article.

 Mechanisms of Defense

“Harmful and ultimately painful addictive behaviors require a bodyguard of lies, distortions, and psychotic denial to fend off the natural corrective consequences of cognitive and behavioral dissonance resulting from addiction. Without such an elaborate and often amazingly sophisticated array of mystificatory and obscuring defenses, the addictive process could not survive for long but would melt like a polar iceberg in Mediterranean seas, destroyed by its innate incompatibility with its environment. But when Benjamin Franklin tersely noted that ‘Those things that hurt, instruct’ he could not have been thinking of this: for it is precisely the lack of instruction in the face of cumulative hurt that suggests the operation of a process concealed and protected by mental defense mechanisms that, having become perverted or detached from their natural survival-adaptive function of protection of the host, now operate as defectors and mercenary troops in the service of an addiction that is at best indifferent and at worst inimical to the prosperity and survival of the individual.

 Lies and Relationships

As the  process claims more of the persons self and lifeworld his becomes his primary relationship to the detriment of all others. Strange as it sounds to speak of a bottle of alcohol, a drug, a gambling obsession or any other such compulsive behavior as a love object, this is precisely what goes on in advanced addictive illness. This means that in  there is always infidelity to other love objects such as spouses and other family – for the very existence of  signifies an allegiance that is at best divided and at worst -and more commonly- betrayed. For there comes a stage in every serious addiction at which the paramount attachment of the person is to the addiction itself. Those unfortunates who attempt to preserve a human relationship to individuals in the throes of progressive  almost always sense their own secondary “less than” status in relation to the problem- and despite the  passionate and indignant denials of this reality, they are right: the person does indeed love his proble, more than he loves them.

Psychologically Speaking

“The specific behavior that characterizes alcoholism is the consumption of significant quantities of alcohol on repeated occasions. The subjective motivating factor underlying this behavior is often obscure. When drinkers are asked why they drink excessively, they will occasionally attribute their drinking to a particular mood such as depression or anxiety or to situational problems. Many times they simply describe an overpowering “need” to drink, variously described as a craving or compulsion. Just as often, however, the drinking is unable to give any plausible explanation for his or her excessive drinking(Goodwin 1993). Drinking relieves guilt and anxiety; however, it then also produces anxiety and depression(Davis 1971). The symptoms associated with depression and anxiety disorders, such as terminal insomnia, low mood, irritability, and anxiety attacks with chest pain, palpitations, and dyspnea often occur. Alcohol seems to relieve these symptoms, resulting in a vicious cycle of drinking followed by depression followed by drinking that ultimately leads to a withdrawal syndrome. Sometimes the patient succeeds in stopping drinking for several days or weeks only to “fall off the wagon” again (Goodwin 1981). Despair and hopelessness are common. By the time the patient contacts the physician, they have often reached rock bottom. Their problems have become so numerous that they feel nothing can be done for them. At this point they may finally be ready to acknowledge their problem but feel powerless to stop drinking(Goodwin 1993).” From the article

Alcohol Dependence

“Although the obvious treatment for alcoholism -just don’t drink the alcohol!- seems and in fact is quite simple in theory, it is by no means easy in practice for individuals with the medical illness of alcohol dependence.

“The abnormal craving and mental obsession alcoholics have for alcohol causes them to return to it again and again even when their drinking has repeatedly caused terrible problems for themselves and others. Even when they finally reach the stage at which they genuinely want to stop drinking, many alcoholics find abstinence from alcohol difficult or impossible to achieve or to maintain. They may stop for a while only to resume drinking again later, usually with a recurrence of problems followed by another, often unsuccessful attempt to stop and stay stopped drinking. Mark Twain said that “It’s easy to quit smoking – I’ve done it a hundred times.” The same applies to alcoholics who stop drinking. Many, in fact most will stop drinking. But relatively few will be successful in staying stopped for a significant period of time. And length of time without a drink is very important for the alcoholic’s recovery because time is required for his psychological and physiological(biochemical) processes to begin to return to normal.” From the article.

Excuses Alcoholics Make

“By the time a chronic process such as alcoholism has become frankly problematic it has invariably acquired a complex and sophisticated array of psychological defense mechanisms aimed at protecting its continued existence by minimizing the cognitive dissonance the addict experiences as a result of his progressively irrational self- and usually other- harmful behavior.”   

“Abstinence may be as hard or even harder than drinking for the alcoholic because it reveals so many problems that were obscured by the family’s focus on alcohol. Denial remains as strong as ever as the family has to face the harsh realities of delusion, illusion and collusion that have dominated its reality during drinking and that are now revealed during the period of abstinence. In many families, the entire family system has been organized by alcoholism. Not every couple will or, for their own personal health should survive recovery. (Brown,1999). This could be a time of tremendous personal growth for all individuals involved or it could turn out to be a period of decline. It is this author’s contention that the approach for the partner is as important in examination as that of the alcoholic himself. As Carl Jung stated:

“Seldom or never does marriage develop into an individual relationship smoothly and without crisis. There is no birth of consciousness without pain(Cambell 1971, pg.167)” From the article.

Getting Away With It

   “It is its own consequence because addiction distorts and stereotypes the psyche of the addict by enslaving the self to a false and unhealthy center -addiction- from which all radii subsequently emanate and around which the circumference of the addicted self is henceforth constructed and maintained. Freedom, flexibility, spontaneity and independence of thought are judgment are lost -actually sacrificed- to the interests and demands of the Idol of the addiction that has become the addict’s jealous god. The addict’s mind is in a sense no longer his mind but has become an agent and tool, however unwitting, of the addiction whose absolute and fundamentally irrational mandate the addict now exists solely in order to fulfill – even, if necessary, at the cost of his own life. But long before his physical life is surrendered to ‘the Cause’ of the addiction, the addict has sacrificed his soul and his individuality to satisfy the requirements of the addiction.” From the article.

Intervention for the Alcohol.

“The technique of intervention gives those who care about the person a tool and a forum by which they can express their concern in a structured, focused format that often leads to the first step in the direction of recovery. A well-organized and properly conducted intervention has been the gateway through which many an person has passed from a deteriorating existence of addictive misery to a lifetime of healthy and rewarding sobriety.

“An intervention consists of a group of friends, family, co-workers or other important people in the persons life who present in a non-accusatory way their observations and concerns about the individual’s behavior as a result of his  use. This is done in a controlled, objective, and systematic fashion in order to overcome the denial and minimization of the to present a unified front of support and care as the plea and recommendation is made by all present for the person to get some help to stop his self- and frequently other- destructive behavior with substances.” From the article

Obstacles to Recovery.

“The principal obstacles to recovery from any addiction are ignorance, shame, dishonesty, and personal exceptionalism.

           “Unfortunately for the person these roadblocks to recovery are almost always cleverly situated and sited like military forts to provide                  mutual support in fending off all attempts at recovery.” From the article.

Disclaimer: The services we render are held out to the public as non-therapeutic hypnotism, defined as the use of hypnosis to inculcate positive thinking and the capacity for self-hypnosis. Results may vary from person to person. We do not represent our services as any form of medical, behavioral, or mental health care, and despite research to the contrary, by law we make no health claim to our services.