Hypnotherapy for Addictions
Find freedom from old patterns and rediscover who you truly are.
Hypnotherapy for addictions offers a clear, practical path out of the cycle that can feel impossible to escape. When thoughts, emotions and choices are taken over by habits or cravings, it can seem as though control has disappeared. Whether it involves alcohol, drugs, gambling, sex or shopping, what begins as comfort or distraction can gradually take charge. Through hypnotherapy for addictions, you can learn to change those subconscious patterns and find real freedom.
At AbsoluteU Clinical Hypnotherapy in Horsham, I use hypnotherapy for addictions together with CBT and NLP to help clients overcome compulsive patterns and rebuild emotional stability. This approach focuses on reprogramming the subconscious mind, reducing cravings and strengthening self-belief. Together we identify triggers, reshape responses and help you reconnect with your sense of calm control.
Understanding Addiction
Understanding why hypnotherapy for addictions works begins with recognising that addiction is not about willpower. It is a learned pattern stored in the subconscious mind, where automatic habits are created and maintained. By changing how the subconscious interprets stress, reward and relief, hypnotherapy for addictions helps you interrupt the old loop and install new, healthy responses.
An addiction can develop for many reasons. It may arise from emotional pain, trauma, boredom, loneliness or the search for relief from stress. What starts as comfort can become dependence, leading to guilt, secrecy and frustration.
Addictive behaviour often includes one or more of the following patterns:
- Compulsion – feeling driven to act even when you know it causes harm
- Impulsivity – reacting to urges without stopping to think
- Habit – repeating actions automatically without awareness
- Dependence – relying on the behaviour or substance to feel normal
- Escapism – using the behaviour to avoid difficult thoughts or emotions
Hypnotherapy works by reaching the subconscious level of the mind, where these learned responses are stored. Through calm, guided sessions, it helps you unlearn what no longer serves you and create new, healthier patterns of thought and behaviour.
How Hypnotherapy for Addictions Helps
With hypnotherapy for addictions, change happens at the level of the subconscious mind. This is where cravings and impulses are created, so it is also where they can be transformed. During each session, you learn to relax deeply while your subconscious absorbs new suggestions that promote calm confidence, healthy coping and balanced decision-making. Over time, those new patterns become your natural way of thinking and feeling.
When we work together, you remain in full control while entering a relaxed, focused state. This is where we can begin reprogramming the subconscious mind to support your conscious goals. You are not fighting against your own urges anymore. Instead, you learn to align your inner mind with the outcomes you truly want.
Through this process, hypnotherapy for addictions can help you reduce cravings and the emotional pull towards addictive habits, replace destructive patterns with calm, confident choices, strengthen motivation and self-belief, address the emotional pain that fuels the addiction and build lasting behavioural change from the inside out.
When you no longer associate the addictive behaviour with relief or comfort, its power over you fades. This is how natural and sustainable recovery begins.
Alcohol Addiction
Hypnotherapy for addictions is widely used to help people change their relationship with alcohol. It reduces cravings, helps you handle social triggers and restores confidence in your ability to relax and connect without relying on drink. Many clients notice that their stress levels fall as their subconscious begins to associate calm and control with healthier choices.
Hypnotherapy for alcohol addiction helps to identify and change the subconscious associations that link drinking with comfort or escape. By calming the mind and reframing these patterns, you can regain control of your relationship with alcohol. Some clients choose moderation, others prefer to stop completely. Whatever your goal, hypnotherapy helps you build balance and confidence without relying on drink.
Gambling Addiction
Hypnotherapy for addictions can effectively interrupt the gambling cycle by changing how the subconscious links excitement and reward. The mind begins to separate the thrill of risk from the need for relief, making it easier to stop before the behaviour takes over.
Hypnotherapy for gambling addiction helps by changing the emotional patterns that drive the compulsion. You learn to interrupt the urge and reconnect with rational thinking. As the subconscious beliefs around luck, excitement and risk begin to change, the urge to gamble becomes easier to resist. You start to feel in charge again rather than at the mercy of the next bet.
Drug Misuse and Dependency
Hypnotherapy for addictions, including hypnosis for substance abuse, helps you address the emotional and subconscious reasons behind dependency. It focuses on breaking the learned link between stress and the need for chemical relief, guiding your mind toward calm awareness and control.
Hypnosis for substance abuse helps you uncover the emotional and psychological reasons behind the behaviour. It allows you to build new ways of managing stress and discomfort without needing to rely on substances. Many clients find that their confidence, focus and energy improve as they release old patterns of self-medication and replace them with calm awareness and control.
Shopping Addiction
Hypnotherapy for addictions helps reduce the emotional pull that drives compulsive shopping. By calming the mind and changing subconscious associations with spending, you can rebuild confidence and learn to meet emotional needs in healthier ways.
Hypnotherapy helps you understand what you are really seeking when you shop, whether that is comfort, distraction or validation, and helps you meet those needs in healthier ways. As your subconscious mind learns new emotional responses, the urge to spend loses its intensity. You begin to feel more grounded, balanced and in control of your finances and emotions.
Sex Addiction
Hypnotherapy for addictions helps individuals release compulsive sexual behaviour by addressing emotional pain and subconscious triggers. It reprogrammes old patterns of avoidance or control into a healthier, more balanced understanding of intimacy and self-respect.
Hypnotherapy for sex addiction helps you reconnect with emotional safety and rebuild a sense of respect and control. It separates the natural need for intimacy from the compulsive drive for escape. As you understand your deeper motivations and replace them with genuine connection and confidence, self-destructive habits can fade.
Research and Evidence
Scientific research supports the use of hypnotherapy for addictions as an effective way to change habits and manage cravings by working directly with the subconscious mind. Studies show that hypnosis can complement other treatments by reducing stress responses and improving self-control.
A systematic review in the American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis found that people who received hypnotherapy were significantly more successful in giving up smoking than those using behavioural counselling alone. The researchers concluded that hypnosis helps by strengthening motivation and reducing withdrawal-related anxiety.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00207144.2024.2434082
A randomised controlled trial comparing hypnotherapy with motivational interviewing for Alcohol Use Disorder reported that participants who received hypnotherapy achieved greater reductions in alcohol use and improved emotional stability after one year.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328931468_Effect_of_Hypnotherapy_in_Alcohol_Use_Disorder_Compared_to_Motivational_Interviewing_A_Randomised_Controlled_Trial
A study published in the British Journal of Addiction found that hypnosis used alongside standard therapy reduced alcohol consumption and relapse rates in participants recovering from alcohol dependence.
https://psychiatryonline.org/doi/pdf/10.1176/appi.psychotherapy.1975.29.2.294
Another academic review of hypnosis for substance misuse concluded that hypnotherapy can reframe how triggers are processed, supporting recovery through visualisation and subconscious retraining.
https://openriver.winona.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1185&context=counseloreducationcapstones
A study titled Hypnosis as an Adjunct in the Treatment of Alcohol Relapse showed that participants using hypnotherapy had improved self-efficacy and reduced relapse risk during a twelve-month follow-up period.
https://scispace.com/pdf/hypnosis-as-an-adjunct-in-the-treatment-of-alcohol-relapse-385el323rp.pdf
Finally, a study on withdrawal management found that hypnotherapy techniques reduced withdrawal discomfort and supported emotional regulation during addiction recovery.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/374185035_A_Study_on_Effectiveness_of_Hypnotherapy_Techniques_on_Withdrawal_Symptoms
Together, these studies demonstrate that hypnotherapy for addictions can strengthen motivation, lower cravings, and support long-term behavioural change. It offers a natural, client-focused approach that works with both mind and body to restore control and confidence.
Creating Lasting Change
Breaking an addiction is not only about stopping a behaviour. It is about learning to respond differently to life’s stresses and emotions. With hypnotherapy, you gain the tools to calm your mind, manage urges and create a new sense of purpose.
Each programme is tailored to you and may include identifying triggers and emotional roots behind the addiction, reframing limiting beliefs such as “I cannot change” or “I will always need it”, strengthening self-awareness and decision-making, and reinforcing new habits through positive visualisation and suggestion.
Some clients notice change within a few sessions, while others need longer support. Either way, progress builds as the mind becomes calmer and more confident in its new way of being.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. Hypnotherapy for addictions can support recovery from alcohol, drugs, gambling, shopping, sex and other compulsive behaviours. It works by targeting the subconscious triggers that fuel those habits and replacing them with healthier, more balanced responses.
That depends on your personal goals. Some people prefer to stop altogether, while others want to regain control and enjoy moderation without relapse. During our sessions, we will explore what feels achievable and sustainable for you, and design your treatment around that choice.
We begin by talking about your current challenges, progress and any triggers you have noticed. You are then guided into a calm, focused state where your subconscious mind becomes open to positive change. Through suggestion, visualisation and therapeutic language, you begin to form new associations and beliefs about yourself and the behaviour. You remain aware and in control throughout.
Yes. Many people come to hypnotherapy after trying other treatments. Relapse simply means that the emotional root of the addiction has not yet been resolved. Hypnotherapy focuses on those deeper causes, helping you understand and rewire the subconscious responses that keep drawing you back to the behaviour.
Cravings usually reduce or disappear as the emotional connection to the behaviour changes. When your subconscious no longer believes the addiction provides relief or reward, the desire fades. If any urges do arise, you will have the tools to manage them calmly and confidently.
Every person is different. Some notice shifts within the first few sessions, while others benefit from more gradual work. Consistency and commitment are key, and progress builds naturally as your subconscious adapts to the new patterns we create together.
Take Your First Step Today
Hypnotherapy for addictions gives you the tools to change deeply rooted behaviours and rediscover a sense of freedom. When you work with both your conscious and subconscious mind, real transformation becomes possible. Whether you are struggling with alcohol, gambling, substance misuse, shopping or sexual compulsions, hypnotherapy for addictions can help you reclaim control and create lasting change.
If you are ready to let go of old patterns and start feeling like yourself again, I would love to help. Sessions are available in person at Roffey Park Institute in Horsham and online throughout the UK. You can start being proactive rather than reactive.
Contact me today to arrange your first session and begin your journey towards lasting change.Find freedom from old patterns and rediscover who you truly are.
