Hypnosis is a highly effective and useful tool when conquering an addiction. You may be participating in AA, NA, using the Rational Recovery method, employing the services of a physician or treatment center, or simply stopping on your own. In any case, hypnosis can help you resolve underlying feelings or beliefs that may be driving you to drink or use.

There is a new paradigm in the field of alcohol/drug abatement, and I feel that Chris Prentiss of the Passages Malibu Addiction Treatment Center summed it up best...

"Alcohol (or drugs) is just a quick and easy way to change ordinary, everyday reality from unbearable to bearable. All it takes is a short trip to the liquor store and few drinks. People who are dependent are merely using alcohol as a crutch to get through the day. Yet doctors and scientists are still treating "alcoholism" as if it is the problem, when it has nothing to do with the problem. They might as well be studying "scratchism" for people who have a chronic itch.

Suppose you had a chronic itch and scratched it regularly throughout the day. Would you have "scratchism"? Would you be a "scratchaholic"? Of course not. What if you had a constant headache, and to cope with it you took aspirin several times each day. Would you suffer from "aspirinism", would you be called an "aspirinaholic"? More important, if you sought help for the treatment of those ailments, would you be treated for "scratchism" or "aspirinism"? Of course not; you would be treated for the underlying conditions that led you to scratch or use aspirin. -- perhaps poison ivy or stress."
~Chris Prentiss

In order for a permanent and lasting recovery, you need to address the reason you drink or use drugs (the itch), not simply focus on the use itself (the scratch). Hypnotherapy is a very effective tool for you to use to uncover the reasons that you drink or use drugs, and also to help you resolve those issues. Once you uncover and resolve those feelings or beliefs that led you to addiction, you will notice that the "itch" is gone, and there is no longer a need to "scratch." Hypnosis is a part of a balanced recovery program.