Can Hypnotherapy Help You Stop Drinking Alcohol?
If you’ve decided that alcohol is taking more from your life than it gives you, you may be wondering how to change your relationship with drinking — and whether hypnotherapy can help.
You don’t necessarily have to consider yourself addicted to alcohol to want to stop drinking. Perhaps you drink socially but find it difficult to know when to stop. Maybe you regularly promise yourself you’ll drink less, only to fall back into the same pattern. Or perhaps alcohol has simply become a habit that no longer fits with the life you want.
At Diamond Wellbeing, I use Advanced Clinical Hypnotherapy to help clients understand and change the subconscious patterns that can contribute to unwanted habits, including drinking alcohol.
Can Hypnotherapy Help You Stop Drinking?
Hypnotherapy may help some people change their relationship with alcohol by working with the thoughts, habits, triggers and emotional associations connected with drinking.
Most people already consciously understand the reasons they would benefit from drinking less. They may want better sleep, improved health, fewer hangovers, more energy, greater control or to stop worrying about what they said or did after drinking.
The difficulty is that simply knowing you want to change doesn't always change the behaviour.
This is where hypnotherapy can be useful. Rather than relying entirely on willpower, hypnotherapy aims to help you change some of the automatic patterns and associations that can influence your behaviour.
Why Can It Be So Difficult to Stop Drinking Alcohol?
Alcohol can become associated with particular situations and emotions.
You might automatically think about having a drink when you:
finish a stressful week
meet friends
go out for dinner
feel anxious or uncomfortable socially
want to relax
feel lonely, bored or unhappy
celebrate something
go on holiday
Over time, these associations can become habitual.
For example, Friday evening may become automatically associated with opening a bottle of wine. A social event may feel incomplete without alcohol. You might even believe you need a drink to relax or feel confident around other people.
Changing your relationship with alcohol can therefore involve more than simply deciding not to drink.
How Does Hypnotherapy for Alcohol Work?
Hypnosis is a deeply focused and relaxed state in which your attention becomes more internally directed.
You remain aware and in control throughout the process. Hypnotherapy isn't about somebody controlling your mind or forcing you to do something you don't want to do.
During hypnotherapy for alcohol, we can explore the individual patterns that contribute to your drinking and work towards changing the thoughts and associations surrounding them.
The aim is to make your new behaviour feel increasingly natural rather than feeling as though you are constantly fighting against yourself.
Hypnotherapy for Alcohol Cravings and Triggers
One person's reasons for drinking can be completely different from another's.
For some people, drinking is predominantly social. For others, alcohol has become associated with stress relief, confidence, emotional escape or reward.
That's why I don't believe alcohol hypnotherapy should simply consist of telling somebody repeatedly that they don't want to drink.
Instead, I look at what is driving the behaviour.
If alcohol has become your way of managing stress, for example, removing the alcohol without addressing the stress may leave the underlying problem unchanged.
Similarly, if you rely on alcohol to feel confident socially, it may be more useful to work on the anxiety or lack of confidence that makes alcohol feel necessary.
Can Hypnotherapy Help With Social Drinking?
Yes, hypnotherapy can also be considered by people who wouldn't describe themselves as dependent on alcohol.
You may simply have reached a point where drinking no longer feels worth it.
Perhaps you are tired of losing part of your weekend to a hangover. Maybe you're trying to improve your health, fitness or weight. Or perhaps you don't like the way alcohol affects your mood, sleep or motivation.
You might want to stop drinking completely, or you may want to develop a healthier relationship with alcohol.
Your goals can be discussed during your initial consultation so that the therapy is tailored to what you actually want to achieve.
Do I Need to Be Alcohol Dependent to Have Hypnotherapy?
No.
Many people who seek help changing their drinking habits don't identify as having an alcohol addiction.
You might drink relatively infrequently but dislike what happens when you do. You might find yourself drinking more than you intended. Or you may simply have decided that alcohol doesn't have a place in the life you want anymore.
You don't have to wait until drinking becomes a severe problem before deciding to change it.
What Happens During Hypnotherapy to Stop Drinking?
At Diamond Wellbeing, therapy is tailored to the individual rather than using exactly the same approach for everybody.
We begin by looking at your current relationship with alcohol, including when you drink, what tends to trigger it, what you feel alcohol gives you and what you would like to change.
Depending on your individual needs, I may incorporate Advanced Clinical Hypnotherapy, Havening Techniques and EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques).
The work may include identifying and changing habitual responses, addressing emotional triggers and developing new associations around alcohol and situations in which you would previously have wanted to drink.
How Many Hypnotherapy Sessions Do I Need to Stop Drinking?
There isn't a universal number of sessions because drinking patterns and their underlying causes vary considerably between individuals.
Someone who has developed a relatively straightforward habitual association with drinking may have different therapeutic needs from someone whose drinking is closely connected with anxiety, stress or difficult past experiences.
Your circumstances and goals can therefore be discussed during an initial session before deciding on the most appropriate approach.
What Are the Benefits of Drinking Less Alcohol?
People have many different reasons for wanting to reduce or stop drinking.
These can include wanting to:
wake up without hangovers
improve sleep
have more energy
improve physical health
support weight management
improve fitness and exercise performance
feel more emotionally balanced
save money
feel more present in relationships
stop relying on alcohol for confidence
feel more in control of their choices
Sometimes the biggest change isn't simply removing alcohol. It's discovering that you can enjoy yourself, relax and connect with other people without needing it.
Is Hypnotherapy Suitable for Alcohol Addiction?
There is an important distinction between changing an unwanted drinking habit and treating alcohol dependence.
If you are physically dependent on alcohol, you should not suddenly stop drinking without appropriate medical advice, because alcohol withdrawal can be dangerous.
Hypnotherapy should not be used as a substitute for appropriate medical treatment for alcohol dependence or alcohol withdrawal.
If you're unsure whether you may be dependent on alcohol, speak to your GP or an appropriate alcohol treatment service before attempting to stop suddenly.
Hypnotherapy may potentially form part of broader support for behavioural and emotional patterns, where clinically appropriate, but safety must come first.
Hypnotherapy for Alcohol in Wilmslow and Alderley Edge
If you're looking for hypnotherapy to stop drinking in Wilmslow, Alderley Edge, Cheshire or the surrounding area, Diamond Wellbeing offers individually tailored therapy for people who want to change unwanted patterns and behaviours.
I'm Stephanie Newton, founder of Diamond Wellbeing and an Advanced Clinical Hypnotherapist. My approach combines hypnotherapy with techniques including EFT and Havening where appropriate, allowing us to look beyond the behaviour itself and explore the factors that may be maintaining it.
Sessions are available in Wilmslow and Alderley Edge, Cheshire, as well as online.
Ready to Change Your Relationship With Alcohol?
You don't have to wait until alcohol has become a major problem before deciding that you would rather live without it.
If you've found yourself repeatedly thinking, “I don't want to drink like this anymore,” it may be worth exploring what keeps bringing you back to the same behaviour.
Hypnotherapy can provide an opportunity to work on those patterns rather than relying solely on willpower.
Contact Diamond Wellbeing to arrange an initial hypnotherapy session and discuss how I may be able to help you change your relationship with alcohol.
