Healing Addictions

In his book Healing the Addictive Mind, Lee Jampolsky states, “When we are caught in addiction it is impossible to experience love. Compulsivity and peace of mind are mutually exclusive…our addictions slowly become the walls behind which we hide. Eventually our walls become so high that instead of simply hiding we become prisoners of our own making. The guards in the prison of addiction are our egos while the bars of our cells are forged with our irrational beliefs.”

At the root of all addictions is the search for happiness and contentment from outside sources. Most of us are addicted to some outside object external to us. This includes the use of drugs, use of food, addiction to a person, excessive addiction to sex, compulsive buying, etc.

With the exception of those born of parents known to be or have been users of hard drugs, babies are not born as addicts. Children learn how to become addicted by discovering and abusing methods allowing them to achieve a state of comfort by turning to food, acquiring a new toy and later on in life as they grow into adolescence and adulthood, they discover that certain things make them feel good. This could be turning to food, to a cigarette, a drink, drugs, relationships or compulsive buying, to name a few.

The pattern leading to addiction is quite simple. It always begins with the time when we used a pacifier or tranquilizer to relieve our discomfort. At a future time as we re-experience a similar feeling, which could be fear or anxiousness, we remember the relief we received from that pacifier and resort to it. As the pattern is repeated, one uses the pacifying/stress relief addiction to achieve momentary relief by avoiding pain.

To successfully overcome addictions, one must recognize the pattern and identify the cause of pain. Hypnosis works by making a connection between your subconscious and consciousness, allowing fuller control of your thought patterns. Using hypnosis allows for the resolution of the issues that caused the addictive behavior in the first place.

Unlike 12-step programs, hypnosis does not identify you by your addiction or teach you that you are helpless against the addiction and must attend meetings for the rest of your life. Hypnosis gives you control of the negative influences that control your thinking patterns. In addition, you develop the beliefs, values, boundaries and the internal identity of someone who has no need for the substances or behaviors they used to depend upon.

Dr. Michael Merzenich of the University of California San Francisco and his colleagues have made discoveries in the field of neuro-science that demonstrate the brain is capable of learning new ways of thinking, as well as experiencing the world throughout our lifetimes. This is precisely why hypnosis is an excellent way to deal with addictions.