Addiction Therapy
Your brain is not broken it is just using something to cope with underlying pain.
If you have an addiction of some kind - sugar, alcohol, drugs, shopping for example, the brain has become dependent on something you originally started using to cope with uncomfortable feelings. This is a normal process and makes logical sense - pain hurts and things help.
I view addiction as a coping response to trauma that has now become a secondary problem. Many people with repeating behaviours started using something to cope with their trauma - and it helped. Now that coping mechanism has also become a problem.
Trauma therapy, we look at the underlying cause of the addiction, not the specific behaviour itself. If we treat the reason why you needed a coping mechanism in the first place, then you may find that you don’t need it any more. Trauma is a wound of the mind, and the addiction was the bandaid. In trauma therapy we work to heal the wound so you no longer need the band-aid.
“The question is not why the addiction, but why the pain.”
Addiction isn’t about failure or weakness — it’s a response to emotional pain, trauma, and unmet needs.
Healing begins when we look at that pain with compassion and be curious about why it drives the behavior, rather than judging the behavior itself.
How Hypnotherapy and other trauma therapies may help with addiction
Hypnotherapy is a therapeutic approach that may help the mind relax and shift patterns of thought or behaviour that no longer feel useful. When people experience distressing events — particularly those that weren’t fully understood or supported at the time — the mind can sometimes continue reacting as if the threat is still present. These ongoing responses can show up as recurring thoughts, emotions, or behaviours that feel difficult to change.
Unprocessed emotional experiences can sometimes contribute to feelings such as anxiety, sadness, or frustration. People often develop coping strategies to manage these emotions, such as distraction, withdrawal, or overworking. While these responses may provide short-term comfort, they can become limiting over time.
During hypnotherapy, gentle relaxation and focused attention can create a sense of distance between emotion, thought, and behaviour. This can make it easier to explore patterns with greater calm and awareness, supporting the mind to respond in new ways. Some clients find this helps them experience more choice, confidence, and emotional balance in everyday life.
I also draw on a range of other trauma therapies to help heal the underlying mental wound that led to the use of something to cope.
You do not need to re-live or discuss difficult experiences in detail unless you wish to. Sessions focus on helping your mind and body process stored tension safely and at your own pace.
Hypnotherapy is not mind control. You remain aware and in charge at all times, and you can end the process or open your eyes whenever you choose. Your mind only engages with suggestions that feel consistent with your own values and wellbeing. Sessions are collaborative, respectful, and centred on your comfort and consent.
Should I stop my addiction if it takes away my pain?
This is a very common question. In most cases I would say no, you shouldn’t stop before therapy - but you must WANT to stop. Addiction usually started as an activity, then became a habit, then felt uncontrollable and is now an addiction. But behind all of that there is a reason why you are using something to cope with your pain underneath. As you will learn in therapy, habits and addictions are a type of Procedural Memory - or process that the brain knows how to play out automatically when the underlying emotions feel uncontrollable. At some point, whatever you use helped, and possibly still does help to some degree. Let’s first work to change the feelings that underlie the behaviour - otherwise the behaviour will come back, or you will find something else that relieves the uncomfortable emotions.
Addiction is like a band-aid that covers a mental wound, and we heal the wound - not just take away the band-aid.
Note, there are also medical reasons why someone shouldn’t stop their addiction cold turkey - the body may have become chemically dependent on the substance and it may not be safe to stop right away. That is something you would need to discuss with your GP or Psychiatrist, but in many cases I have seen people’s mental health suffer if they do not first resolve the emotions underlying the behaviour before quitting.
Should I see a counsellor instead of a trauma therapist?
Counsellors perform very valuable work and you might find a counsellor helpful but comparing Hypnotherapy to counselling is like comparing apples and oranges. Counsellors are trained to work with the conscious mind - the pre-frontal cortex - to be specific where logic, judgement, and narratives or stories about ourselves take place.
In Hypnosis, I work with the sub-conscious level of mind where beliefs, emotions, and behaviours sit that feel out of your control. I help your brain process thoughts and emotions that seem like they come from a place within you that no amount of talk-therapy could resolve - because they do. They come from memories that were not processed by the brain correctly and now replay without your control.
For many people seeing a counsellor to work with the logical brain is very useful for understanding why you do things, and giving you strategies to stop doing them. In Hypnosis I work with the part of the mind that seems to create feelings and behaviours that you can’t control.
How can I prepare for my session?
If you are really committed to stopping your addiction by addressing the underlying emotions - the why - behind the behaviour you can prepare for trauma therapy by:
Be mentally and financially prepared for a long road. Trauma therapy and Hypnosis are not quick fixes - sometimes it takes weekly or twice-weekly sessions for a few months to feel like an addiction is really resolved.
Avoid triggering situations while going through therapy. You need space for your brain to process what comes up in therapy and putting yourself around people who are strong triggers for you can slow progress. After coming to therapy for a while before clients usually notice a huge change in how they relate to people who used to trigger them and it is motivating to notice your progress - but too early can send you backwards.
Have a very good think about - and write it down if you can - the feelings that come up in your body immediately before you act out your addiction/habit. How do you feel physically right before you act out your addictive behaviour? Is your chest tight, your heart racing, increased/decreased energy? If you can, try and determine what you believe about yourself when you are thinking about performing the addictive behaviour. For example, “I am scared”, “I am not safe”, “I am lonely”.
We will be likely use EMDR, Memory Reconsolidation, Somatic Experiencing, and Hypnosis in therapy. It can be interesting to watch videos on these techniques so you know what to expect.
Consider what situations you are in immediately before your addictive behaviour comes out. Are you alone? Busy? With people? What are you doing? This is helpful for me to know in therapy because this a triggering situation in which the feelings arise that lead to the behaviour. It is useful for me to know.
Remember that therapy is work. There is a perception that Hypnosis is like sleep but trauma therapy requires a lot of visualisation, experiecing uncomfortable feelings, talking, movement, as well as physical rest. Your mind is more active than in a normal waking state. It is like mental gymnastics but physical rest.