Alcohol and addictions…what you can do to change
I have had three clients this week tell me how they have an addiction they want ‘to get on top of’. I would not class any of these clients in therapy with me as having a major problem, nor do any of them want to stop entirely but they feel it is destructive and they fear the habit going further.
I fully understand and I think most of us (who drink) can relate to the feeling of wanting it in some form of moderation; for health, weight and wellbeing reasons.
The first thing I want to tell you if you can relate to this, is you are not alone. Most people feel a bit out of control with consumption or use. The second thing I want to tell you (and it is okay to cry if this hits a chord) is that YOU are not weak, YOU are not weaker than ‘others’ YOU are not out of control and YOU are not ‘incapable’ of stopping yourself.
As a hypnotherapist, I often use ‘parts theory’ and never more so than for this particular issue. It is not YOU that drinks, it is not YOU that has no self-control. There is a PART of you that loves drinking and will have one and another etc and there is a PART of you that is appalled and will beat yourself up about it, tell you all sorts of huge things about yourself (such as you have no self-control) and do everything it can to make you feel shit (shittier).
So firstly, take YOU out of the equation and separate yourself into the PART of you that drinks and the PART of you that loves it (fun/the feeling/social/good times in the past) and the part of you that hates it (too much, too fat, too hungover, too old etc for this). Now have a chat with them. See it from both sides and don’t let these parts tell you ‘it is who you are’ because it is not who are you. It is simply your current behaviour.
Change is not easy. Change from something as fun, sociable and encouraged as drinking, is even less easy. But it IS possible. It is only possible however after you have stopped beating yourself up, telling yourself really nasty things about yourself and instead, recognise it is something you DO not something you ARE.
Brixton Hypnotherapy will help you re-frame your attitude and self-talk, examine why you do it, what is the motivation and then work with this for change. Hypnosis is fantastic for nudging the sub-conscious to change behaviour. As a therapist, I combine more standard talking-therapy with the hypnosis to put you back in the driving seat.
So drop me an email (as my phone is often off!) and I will get back to you about how I can help.