Hypnosis For Addiction
Hypnosis For Addiction
Overcoming Addiction with Hypnotherapy
What causes addiction?
The word “addiction” is derived from a Latin term for “enslaved by” or “bound to.” If you have had an addiction then you will understand why.
Addiction exerts a prolonged and powerful influence on the brain that manifests in three distinct ways: Addiction involves intense craving for something, losing control over how its used, and despite adverse consequences the continued use of it.
What Are The Success Rates Of Hypnotherapy For Addiction?
🧪 Alcohol Addiction
– A study cited by Addiction Resource found a **77% success rate** among participants treated with hypnotherapy for alcohol addiction, with follow-up lasting at least one year.
– This rate is notably higher than many traditional methods, though results can vary based on individual responsiveness and treatment integration.
🚬 Smoking Cessation
– Hypnotherapy has long been used to help people quit smoking, with success rates ranging from **20% to 60%**, depending on the number of sessions and the individual’s suggestibility.
– Some meta-analyses suggest hypnotherapy may outperform nicotine replacement therapy in certain cases.
💊 Substance Abuse & Behavioral Addictions
– For drug addiction and behavioral issues (e.g., gambling, food addiction), success rates are harder to quantify due to fewer large-scale studies.
– However, anecdotal and clinical reports suggest **moderate to high effectiveness**
What Causes Addiction?
Today we recognise addiction as a chronic disease that causes change to both the structure and function of the brain. Much like cardiovascular disease damages the heart, diabetes impairs the pancreas, in a similar vein, addiction hijacks the brain. The brain goes through stages of changes, beginning with recognition of pleasure and ending with a driven compulsive behaviour.
In the brain, all pleasures are recognised in the same way, regardless if it’s from drugs, monetary rewards, sexual gratification, or simply a satisfying meal. The brain gives pleasure its own distinct signature. This triggers the release of the neurotransmitter dopamine into the nucleus accumbens*. This is a cluster of nerve cells underneath the cerebral cortex. This is so consistently associated with pleasure that it is referred to, as the brain’s pleasure centre.
All abuse of drugs, from nicotine to heroin, cause a powerful surge of dopamine in the nucleus accumbens. The use of a drug or taking part in a rewarding activity that will lead to addiction can be directly linked to the speed that it promotes the dopamine release, along with the intensity and reliability of the release.
Development of tolerance
With the passing of time, the sought-after substance or activity doesn’t provide as much pleasure as it did initially. The brain has adapted to them, It has developed a tolerance. Usually natures rewards come only with time and effort. In the case of addictions, addictive drugs and behaviours provide a shortcut, the brain is flooded with dopamine and other neurotransmitters.
Whilst engaging with addictive drugs and behaviours, greater amounts than are associated with normal natural rewards, maybe 2 to 10 times the amount of dopamine are being released. These rewards are incredibly quick and reliable.
In someone who has become addicted, their brain receptors become overwhelmed. In response to this, one or both of these things happen, firstly the elimination of dopamine receptors, and secondly, the production of less dopamine. The brain is trying to protect itself, by keeping the amount of dopamine within a normal range.
The result of this, is that the dopamine has less effect on the brain’s reward centre.
Someone who has an addiction typically finds in time, that the desired substance has ceased to give them the same pleasure. They need more to obtain the same “high” because their brains have adapted—an effect known as tolerance.
“Once addicted and tolerance has developed, compulsion takes over.”
The pleasure gained from the addictive drug or behaviour is now harder to come by, but the memory of the pleasure, and the need to recreate it remains. As if the normal process of motivation is no longer working. As we mentioned earlier the learning process also comes into play. The information has been stored in the hippocampus and the amygdala about the environmental cues associated with the desired substance. And in order to locate it again, these cues are accessed. These memories assist in creating a conditioned response, an intense craving, that is triggered whenever the person encounters those environmental cues.
Unfortunately, cravings do not only occur in relation to addiction, but also with relapse after having got free of the addictive drug or behaviour. Because of the “conditioned learning” the sight of a hypodermic needle, or the sight of a whisky bottle may be enough to cause a relapse. This helps to explain why, even after a prolonged period of abstinence relapses occur.
Key Points
Today we recognise addiction as a chronic disease that causes change to both the structure and function of the brain.
In the brain, all pleasures are recognised in the same way, regardless if it’s from drugs, monetary rewards, sexual gratification, or simply a satisfying meal. This triggers the release of the neurotransmitter dopamine into the brain. This is so consistently associated with pleasure that it is referred to, as the brain’s pleasure centre.
Addictive drugs tend to find a shortcut to the brain’s reward system, and then flood the nucleus accumbens with dopamine. The hippocampus remembers this rapid sense of satisfaction, then the amygdala creates a conditioned response to the stimuli.
Dopamine contributes to the experience of pleasure, it also plays a part in memory and learning. Two of the key elements in going from liking something to becoming addicted to it.
With the passing of time, the sought-after substance or activity doesn’t provide as much pleasure as it did initially. The brain has adapted to them, It has developed a tolerance.
In someone who has become addicted, their brain receptors become overwhelmed. In response to this, one or both of these things happen, firstly the elimination of dopamine receptors, and secondly, the production of less dopamine.
The result of this, is that the dopamine has less effect on the brain’s reward centre. They need more to obtain the same “high” because their brains have adapted—an effect known as tolerance.
Unfortunately, having got free of the addictive drug or behaviour. Because of the “conditioned learning” the sight of a hypodermic needle, or the sight of a whisky bottle may be enough to cause a relapse. This helps to explain why, even after a prolonged period of abstinence relapses occur.
That last little stressor was the one that hit the trigger for it to overflow. If we don’t want it to overflow, we need to put a few holes in the bucket, so it never gets to the point of overflowing.
In life, all of these holes could be something you do to manage your anxiety, there are many activities you could do, such as pilates, yoga, sport, other forms of exercise, reading, playing or listening to music, meditation, hypnosis, hypnotherapy or spending time with friends or family.
This is good way of looking at anxiety, it explains why sometimes it can seem to strike, right out of the blue with no significant trigger. How many times have you been in a situation with someone and snapped at them over something trivial?
When you think about what you have ended up snapping at or arguing over the source is irrelevant and often petty. You are not angry at the little flippant remark or situation that has caused the outburst. Rather you have snapped because of all the other little things that have built up over time and you’ve reached the end of your tether, your bucket has overflowed. This is anxiety in action. Using hypnosis for anxiety can help you recognise the source of your problem and tackle them and hypnotherapy techniques are great at helping to treat the anxieties you have.