ADDICTION

WHY WE GET ADDICTED

In our society today we are surrounded by addiction.  Most human beings are addicted to something whether it is alcohol, drugs, watching TV, gambling, sex, buying clothes.  Not all addictions are bad, and can be good for our health for example going to the gym, running.  It can be very easy to get addicted as it starts simply enough as a way of changing how we feel.  In essence, addiction is a pleasurable experience that has got out of control. 

Addictions only become a problem when we recognise that what we are doing is having an impact on our health, wealth or relationships and we decide to cut down or give up our negative behaviour, only to find that we can’t.  How many mornings have you woken up swearing to yourself that you will never drink again, take drugs again, gamble again only to find yourself acting out your habit in the same way you have done every other day. 

People are at risk of developing addictive behaviour when they cannot or feel that they cannot get their basic human needs met.  When living your life causes you to be stressed, anxious, depressed and unhappy then we seek something that will help us forget our worries for a while.  What starts as a pleasant pastime turns into nightmare from which we cannot escape. Addiction is simply a coping mechanism that has got out of control and become a habit.  When we carry out our addictive behaviour for long enough it creates a neural pathway in the brain that becomes embedded and removes our choice over whether or not we act out our behaviour.  Our behaviour has become wired in.

It might seem a little strange that we can linked all addictions together with anything from excessive gambling to drug or alcohol addiction included.   It is because each type of addiction is tied with a particular activity and addiction is a single problem with a multitude of ways to express it. You can be addicted to almost anything good or bad, running, going to the gym, eating chocolate, smoking, alcohol, watching too much TV, playing video games etc.

HOW HYPNOTHERAPY CAN HELP WITH ADDICTION

Addictions are simply a coping habit that starts innocently enough, but as we repeat the pattern of behaviour over a long enough period of time the action that started as a conscious decision gets taken over by the unconscious mind and when this happens you no longer have a choice as your habit has become wired into your mind.  As our unconscious is working all the time keeping us alive and our bodies functioning, doing all the things we don’t have to think about, your habit becomes something else the unconscious mind has taken over, and because the action is no longer coming from the conscious mind where we have the power to decide, you now have feelings of helplessness against the addiction.  Your unconscious will now respond to certain cues either internal or external and will perform the behaviour without any conscious input on your part.  As hypnotherapy is way of talking to your unconscious it can allow the programme of behaviour to be re-written and replaced with healthier alternatives.

If you are fed up being stuck in a cycle of addiction that is holding you back,  promising yourself every day that you will stop your addictive behaviour and that today will be different, only to give in to your cravings and so the cycle of addiction begins.  Wanting to stop, trying to stop and failing.

Is it time to take back control of your life and learn how to transform those unwanted, unhealthy habits that are holding you back from living the life you want and turn them into healthy choices?  Addiction is simply a habit that has got out of control, so whether your addiction is:

– smoking

– alcohol

– drugs

– gambling

– shopping

– chocolate

– computer games

It is the same neural pathways in the brain that are being affected. 

HELP WITH ADDICTION

Do you want to:

– Retrain your brain to get rid of those addictive pathways and replace them with new healthier choices?

– Learn how to control those cravings that get in the way of putting an end to addiction?

– Feel happier, more confident and healthier?

– Put your addiction in the past?

– Increase your self-esteem?

– Take back control of your life?

I have been working with people just like you who have been helped to take back control of their lives when things were spiralling out of control, when they had made the decision to stop but realised that although they wanted to stop they couldn’t. 

I work with people like you on a private 1:1 basis over a number of sessions using a mix of hypnotherapy, NLP and other proven techniques to help you take back control of your life and make those positive healthy changes to create the life you want to live.

If you have reached the “I have had enough” moment in your life then why not Choose Today to make the change.