Hypnosis For Drug Addiction

The addict presents many of the same defects as those of the habitual alcoholic. The user usually is over-sensitive, addicted, lonely, low in self-esteem, and sees it challenging to tolerate difficulty. Also, self-pity is often a striking feature of the addict’s character.

There are two distinct types of addiction:

1) that which happens in people experiencing from neurosis who try to regulate their tension and stress with drugs; and

2) that which occurs in people who resort to narcotics for the “lift” and sensations of delight that they induce. In either case, once addiction has occurred, a physical dependence upon the drug is installed as a consequence of biochemical changes which produce a yearning for the drug.

Hypnosis to treat addictions

Hypnosis was once a viable strategy for addictions. Then, due to hypnosis being used for amusement purposes, many professionals lost belief in it. However, it has now begun to make a return in the treatment of substance misuse. For example, an article published in The American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis describes combining intense regimen of 20 daily sessions with hypnosis is a successful approach to treat addictions. The author stated that the method has been used with 18 clients over the last 7 years and has shown a 77 percent achievement rate for at least a 1-year follow-up.

Hypnosis to treat Barbiturate addiction

Addiction to barbiturates is especially susceptible to the hypnotic method, according to Byran. He states that common symptoms of withdrawal can be curbed by direct suggestions and coupled with the administration of medicine. Hypnotherapy is required to eliminate the underlying instability, but the diagnosis in these cases is great.

Hypnosis to treat opiate addiction

Bryan reports decent results with the use of hypnosis in cravings to the hard-core opiates (morphine, heroin, etc.) , afforded the following five things are present:1) the person themselves must be motivated in order for him to have any permanent benefits;2) the person must be under regular supervision;3) the drug supply must be effectively shut off from the user;4) extensive hypnotherapy must be made to uncover every meaningful instability and direct suggestion must be given that will afford them new choices to replace the use of 
the opiates; and5) this is the most significant, the person must be seen a minimum of one or two hours every day until a complete remedy is produced and then hypnotic suggestion should proceed until one is absolutely persuaded that recurrence is unlikely to happen

Hypnosis to create a needle phobia

Hypnosis has been used to create a phobia the drug addict against any use of needles. After the person had gone through their withdrawal phase, the posthypnotic suggestion was provided that they would to be normal in all regards but that if they or anyone else tried to put a needle into their body at any place, they would produce a violent physical response. They were also informed that upon awakening from hypnosis they wouldn’t remember that this idea had been given to them. At the time of this report, they had been successful for six weeks. They did shoot up with heroin on one occurrence during those six weeks but progressed into a violent stomach retching and vomiting when they put the needle into their arm. This was such a bad experience that they did not have any pleasant feelings as a result of heroin.

Self-hypnosis to treat addiction

Another article published in the American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis. An extraordinary case is presented in which hypnosis was favourably used to defeat a $500 (five grams) per day cocaine addiction. The person was a woman in her twenties. Six months into her habit, she got a commercial weight-control tape that she used happily to stop smoking cigarettes (mentally substituting the word “smoking”), as well as to take her down from her cocaine euphoria and help her to fall asleep. After about 8 months of addiction, she elected to use the tape in an effort to overcome the addiction itself. Over the next 4 months, she heard to the tape three times a day, mentally replacing the word “coke.” At the end of this time, her addiction was gone, and she has been recovered for the past 9 years. Her withdrawal and rehabilitation were remarkable because hypnosis was the only method, and no supporter network of any kind was attended.Kroger states that self-hypnosis is particularly helpful for withstanding the unpleasant subjective sensations produced by withdrawal. In several firm cases, Kroger has proposed that the user participate in sensory-imagery conditioning to believe that he is giving himself an injection or using a drug orally while in hypnosis. When the person can revivify the pleasurable consequences of the drug, withdrawal is achieved more readily.

Remembering a good trip

Baumann used a hypnotherapy technique with adolescent drug abusers consisting of the following steps:1) history and physical examination with a sincere attempt at establishing rapport;2) Revivification of a previous “good trip” or happy drug experience;3) having the patient develop the hallucinated drug experience into one which, in his or her own opinion, was more rewarding, more intense, and more profitable than the original.The advantages of such an approach are that self-induced hallucinated experiences are not against the law, they are free and totally under the subject’s control, and thus provide the need for independence, without depriving the person of the kick, adventure or escape previously supplied by injection or ingestion of illegal, expensive drugs with unpredictable present or future effects.

Weekend hypnosis retreats

A technique similar to the one developed by Baumann has been employed as part of 36-hour week-end encounter marathons with female drug addicts. Each group consisted of 32 subjects. The technique consisted of having the subjects lie down on mats with blankets and pillows. Then with eyes closed they were taken through a progressive relaxation induction that included deep breathing exercises. Then the subjects were told to visualize a scene that gave them the feeling of peace and contentment, to let the scene become as clear and vivid as possible, and to enter into the scene and become part of it and be completely surrounded by it.

They were further told to experience everything about the scene—all of the pleasant sounds, the pleasant sights, the pleasant smells, the pleasant tastes, and pleasant touches— to let the whole self be filled with the good feelings from being part of the scene. They were told that as they continued to be part of the scene that some suggestions would be given to them that would be very beneficial for them; that they were not to pay any particular attention to these suggestions, but just let them float into their minds without any conscious effort. They were then given ego-strengthening suggestions. After the ego-strengthening suggestions were given, they were told to go back to the last good “trip” they had and to relive it completely.

They were told that every minute of clock time would seem like an hour while on their “trip.” They were given ten minutes for their trip and the use of the time distortion technique made the ten-minute trip seem like ten hours. At the end of the ten minutes, they were told that it was time for them to return to the here and now and that the hypnotist was going to count from one to five and that with each number he counted they would feel much lighter, much more alert, and much more refreshed. At the count of five they were told to open their eyes and sit up and feel the immense sense of mental clarity and physical well-being. The results thus far have been very encouraging.

Historically, drug abusers have been asked by society to give up what they “enjoy”—that is, a synthetic agent which permits temporary escape from the harsh realities of everyday life, and the concomitant anxiety, for the middle class dream based on hard work, delay of need fulfilment and competitive-aggressive relation-ships for others. It appears much more realistic to satisfy the “needs” of a drug abuser by substitution and addition of further “pleasure” rather than deprivation of gratifications. Because the revivification of a good trip is legal and under the control of a professionally trained person, difficulties with the addict associating with criminal elements in order to procure drugs is largely eliminated.

Techniques for handling drug addicts by group hypnotherapy have been described by Ludwig, Lyle, and Miller. Their study was conducted at the U.S. Public Health Service Hospital, Lexington, Kentucky with 22 male addicts. It is the belief of the authors that the hypnotherapeutic techniques which were most successful in eliciting positive responses were those which seemed more magical, more authoritative, and oriented more toward dealing with current, practical, reality problems. They found that insight-oriented treatment held little meaning. Introspection was not one of their virtues and they viewed therapy as “getting something from the doctor. The authors feel that group hypnotherapy with addicts offers a number of advantages, especially for short-term treatment programs. It undermines most of the destructive griping which seems characteristic of many group meetings with addicts and allows group members to participate equally in all aspects of the treatment program. Group hypnotherapy also seems conducive for extending the duration of the therapeutic session beyond its ordinary limits by means of posthypnotic suggestions. The authors state that group hypnosis has some severe limitations. It didn’t prove useful as a method for dealing with deep insightful material.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the use of hypnosis as a way of treating drug addiction bestows a great deal of hope. Without the use of a long-range plan employing hypnosis the rate of success is around 2%. Success rates in programs applying hypnosis have consistently been between 60% and 70%. Recently, major advances in the use of hypnosis to treat addictions has come in the form of Online Rehab. Online Rehab is a unique program that utilises hypnosis to help people to deal with addictions from the privacy of their own home. Click here to find learn about Online Rehab.