How Hypnosis Can Help Overcome Addictions

By: Beth A. Snyder, Clinical Hypnotherapist

There is a saying on my website (bethsnyderhypnosis.com), “pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.” This is true, but just knowing it doesn’t stop you from hurting. Whether your addiction is to a substance, a person or a behavior, the emotional pain feels sharp as a knife.

That is because physical pain and emotional pain are experienced in the same part of the brain. So, when you suffer emotional disruption your pain receptors light up as if you were sliced open.

If you believe, as I do, that all addictions are a misguided attempt to soothe emotional pain and distress, then you will understand that finding a way to be with your pain and allowing it to pass is the path to emotional freedom and wholeness.

This is where hypnotherapy is at its most effective. The latest neuroscience shows that the brain continues to grow new circuitry throughout a person’s lifespan. When hypnosis is conducted by a Certified Clinical & Transpersonal Hypnotherapist such as myself, it can be used to bypass the critical mind and access the subconscious. Then it can help to ‘rewire’ the underlying pain, or root cause, of addiction and allow for a more loving and expansive life.