LSH - drinking alcohol

Millions of people worry about drinking alcohol.  How confident are you about your relationship with alcohol? Would you like to feel more in control and not give in to those early evening cravings?  Could you actually stop drinking alcohol altogether?

This Naked Mind” by Annie Grace identifies that in our culture “alcohol is the only drug you have to justify not taking.”  That is big pressure and, as we go into another lockdown, it may be helpful to understand why we desire alcohol and why cutting down or stopping without support can be so hard.

Understanding the emotional factor of drinking alcohol

Desire is a learned behaviour.  It is something that we learn to feel and then repeat it until it becomes automatic and habitual.

With alcohol, we have been conditioned to believe that we enjoy drinking.  It is something that we associate with parties and celebrations and we grow up with the attitude that it is something to embrace.  We think that it enhances our social life, makes us more interesting and relieves boredom and stress.

Unconscious learning happens unintentionally from observations, experiences, and practice.

Therefore, when we consciously decide that we need to cut down on drinking, it is actually very hard to maintain, because our subconscious actually thinks the opposite.  We have unconsciously trained our brains to desire alcohol and that desire is intense because of repetition, conditioning, and reward.

Willpower and denial will only intensify the desire more…and the brain associates the dopamine high that we get from the sugar in alcohol with survival, so the cravings become very strong and that is why we prioritise alcohol in the way that we do.

The good news is that the subconscious mind has the ability to be reprogrammed which is where hypnotherapy comes in.

How hypnotherapy can help you control drinking alcohol

Hypnotherapy works directly with the subconscious, which will only accept beneficial suggestions.  The conscious thought process is by-passed.

With hypnotherapy, those negative habits and learned behaviours that have been programmed into the subconscious can be released and replaced with a preferred, measured, and mindful response.

It will also help you to see yourself the way you want to be and to take an alternative route from our alcohol-saturated culture.  It will help you to release limiting beliefs, gain back control, and good health.

So if any of this resonates with you, do take a look at the support I offer online.

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