angharad

Morning,
I was just wondering as some people get hypnosis for stopping smoking or loosing weight whether or not anyone has tried it to sort out a drink or drug issue?
A new therapist has set up shop in my town and claims to offer CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy) based hypnosis.
As a nurse myself I know who good CBT can be for patients, as a suffer of bipolar for 10 yrs I know that CBT has its place in mental health. But to combine it with a hypnosis based practice?
Just wondered if you had this type of thing accross the pond in america as ive not heard of it before
xx

Taking5

I tried it and I ended up taking the psychiatrist out for a drink

Just kidding. Never tried it, never heard of it being tried. I'd be interested in your results if you tried it though.

angharad

lol dgillz xD for some reason that made me actually laugh out loud :P
i just wanted to ear others experience of it if anyone had at all :P logic just says to me if ppl use it to quit smoking why not use it to quit drinking?! x

Dee74

I have no experience myself, but I know some folks here have tried CBT.
Hopefully they'll chime in

D

LexieCat

I've heard of CBT being helpful for quitting drinking, but I've never heard of CBT being combined with hypnosis.

I have zero experience with hypnosis, and I tend to think I'd be a poor subject, but it will be interesting to hear what anyone else has to say.

LaFemme

Id be interested in hearing I it had been tried. I think I remember reading once that people in active addiction were difficult to hypnotize but I can't remember why.

I have heard of accupuncture being used.

CarolD

I did try hypnosis. for stopping smoking years ago
Way before my alcoholism kicked in.
I still smoke.....

I've been sober since '89.....
When diagnosed with situational depression my psychiatrist
suggested AA....I went and finally quit drinking.

That was years before SMART/CBT was developed.
Or I certainly never heard of it way back then

I well remember when SMART put their site up...
I went over to read what they were about..
I do find that method interesting.
Just have no experience to share.

There is no one perfect way to recover.
I so hope everyone finds whatever benefits them.

JosetteCollins

A therapist I know who uses hypnosis to help some of his patients once told me that he could use hypnosis to help people who have specific fears (such as public speaking, taking exams, etc), and to help people quit smoking--but that it's ineffective with alcoholism. He says that the reward center in the brain of alcoholics is too powerful for hypnosis to be effective. This was one person's perspective, though--there may very well be therapists who feel differently and are willing to do hypnosis with alcoholics. Needless to say, you'd have to want to stop drinking for hypnosis to be effective (you can't be convinced to do something against your will under hypnosis).

It seems to me that most recovery programs incorporate some form of CBT into its philosophy or steps. The basic premise of CBT is that our thoughts cause our feelings and behaviors. If you work to change the way you think about things, then it will follow that you can change your behavior and the way you respond to things (even if your situation or the people around you don't change).

recycle

I used to a hypnotherapist to quit chewing tobacco about five years ago and I found it very effective. I did relapse two years later but that was almost a willful act of self-destruction. That was also about the same time my drinking escalated radically.

I tried a self-hypnosis program for drinking (Wendi Friesen) with mixed results. It helped in lots of areas, but ultimately failed. Hypnosis is great for lots of things:sleep, relaxation, identifying and depowering triggers, and creating future memories, etc. But it cannot, or did not, change the crucial thing - wanting to change my life on a fundamental level. In retrospect, I should have gone back to the hypnotherapist I first used, but I was too embarrassed at what a horrible idiot I had become to face her.

I don't have time to write more now, because I am off to work. But hypnosis is fascinating tool with a lot of potential. A magic bullet it isn't.

Have good day and be kind to yourself everyone.

NEOMARXIST

I have no experience with this.

My own view on this is that for me then my recovery is a new design for life. A totally new way of thinking, living and reacting to life. It certainly isn't a quick fix or anything but rather a daily work in progress. If it wasn;t this then I would just end up drinking again. Or if not then i would be mightily p*ssed-off and would proably end up killing myself out of frustration with life. That;s how I used to feel after 2/3 weeks after my last binge. Taking a drink gave me a chance to feel at peace with myself instantly again, apart from it soon faded and was just a tortorus mad drink and drug bender. Usually all alone.

When I got sober then I got clean and sober. No drink, drugs, cigarettes or gambling. I never really gambled but I treat gambling exactly the same as drink and drugs. It's all about a mindset and way of living. Drink, drugs, cigarettes, gambling play no part in that life. However I appreciate everybody is totally different. For me they were all one big package.

I had to stop addictive behaviours to stand any chance. They all had to go. It is only initially that the immediate chemicals need to be ceased. The real work starts in living a new mindset and life. One where chemicals designed to alter a mindset play no part as I am at peace with my baseline 'natural' mind.