According to the website Wellington Hypnotherapy, hypnosis addresses the root cause of your drinking. This can be stress, feelings of inadequacy or a lack of confidence. You might even drink simply because you feel you deserve a reward for some accomplishment.
Premise
According to the website Treatment For Alcohol, hypnosis works by the power of suggestion. It alters the thought processes connected to your desire to drink, replacing that desire with other options. Alternatives to drink will become your first choice over time.
History
According to R. L. Martensen in "Hypnotism's Medical Heyday" in the Journal of the American Medical Association, therapists regularly used hypnotism to treat alcoholism in the 1800s. When hypnotism became a form of entertainment in the early 1900s, professionals began to back away from using it as therapy.
Process
The hypnotherapy process should begin with your therapist assessing your personal history, according to the website Treatment for Alcohol. Wellington Hypnotherapy advises that your therapist needs to identify your trigger, what happens or what you are feeling when you decide that you want a drink. Individual sessions can run an 60 to 90 minutes and begin with your therapist taking you through several relaxation techniques. He will then work on suggestion cues that you can use to control your behavior between sessions. Finally, he will try to alter your association between certain thought processes and the act of taking a drink.
Success
The American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis advises that hypnotherapy for alcoholism works best when continued over an extended period. The website Treatment for Alcohol warns that if you don't genuinely want to stop drinking or if your therapist does not have an accurate understanding of why you drink, hypnosis might not work. Success also depends on the extent of your alcohol dependency and how long you've been drinking to excess. Treatment for Alcohol agrees that a series of sessions are usually necessary for optimum results. Wellington Hypnotherapy suggests that when the proper techniques are used, hypnotherapy can result in a 75 percent success rate among patients a year after concluding therapy.
Advantage
Because hypnotherapy addresses the underlying causes of addiction, it modifies your behavior rather than just separates you from a habit you enjoyed once and might want to enjoy again. It stems the desire to drink and is a less stressful remedy of quitting, according to the American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis.
