Addiction/Bad Habits

Understanding Addiction 

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Addiction can manifest in various forms, from substance abuse to compulsive behaviors such as overeating, gambling, or excessive screen time.

 

These behaviors are usually coping mechanisms for underlying issues. You might turn to addictive behaviors to avoid painful emotions, to cope with stress, or your brain is just really good at learning patterns, and the dopamine created a strong neural connection for that behavior. Patterns of addiction can often be traced back to childhood, where certain behaviors were modeled or certain emotional needs were unmet.

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The cycle of addiction can be challenging to break. Even though you can clearly see the negative impact on your life, you may still find yourself unable to stop. This is because the behavior becomes deeply ingrained in your subconscious mind, which controls your automatic responses and habits.

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How Hypnosis Can Help

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Hypnosis can get to the root cause of addiction by working directly with your subconscious mind. Here’s how hypnotherapy can help:

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• Regulating Your Nervous System: When you're in engaged in addiction, you're basically in a trance. You are running a program in your subconscious mind, and not fully present with reality. And your frontal lobes, where you make your decisions, are basically offline. In the first session, I will teach you strategies to break that trance, and also regulate your nervous system to handle cravings, and triggers, helping to interrupt the unhealthy patterns, and bring you into a calm, centered state. With the use of anchors, pattern interrupts, and other techniques, you will be empowered to calm yourself anytime, anywhere. When your nervous system is regulated, you will not need to engage in unhealthy behaviors to feel better.

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• Replacing Unhealthy Coping Strategies: An addiction cannot just be removed without replacing it with another behavior. One of the important questions we will be exploring is, "What is the positive intention behind the behavior?" And then, we will find out how you can give that to yourself in a better way. During hypnosis, new, healthier coping mechanisms will be practiced and reinforced. These might include mindfulness practices, journaling, healthier lifestyle choices, or engaging in fulfilling activities that provide a natural sense of reward. We will work to get you passionate about your life again. 

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• Desensitizing Triggers: When you reduce your dopamine, and really anytime you decide to change, the triggers in your life will seem to be magnified— at least until you can reset your dopamine levels and get back into homeostasis. Hypnotherapy can desensitize the triggers that lead to addictive behavior. By reprogramming your subconscious mind, the powerful associations between triggers and addictive behaviors can be weakened or entirely removed.

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• Dealing with Root Emotional Issues: Hypnotherapy techniques, such as dream therapy, arm rigidity releasing, EFT tapping, and others, allows for the safe exploration and processing of your buried emotions. When you address the root emotional issues, the need for the addictive behavior diminishes.

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• Creating a New Self-Image: Hypnosis can help you visualize and create a new, positive self-image. This shift in self-perception is essential for building self-esteem and the foundation to make the drastic changes that are necessary in your life.

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• Breaking Automatic Responses: By accessing the subconscious mind, hypnotherapy can rewire automatic responses to stress and emotional pain, making it easier to make conscious, healthier choices.​