Binge Drinking
This is a particular phenomenon of Northern European countries and is defined by the NHS as “drinking heavily in a short space of time to get drunk or feel the effects of alcohol.
The problem with binge drinking is that become a standard “peer group” behaviour, where friends and family going out on the town for a night of drinking every weekend every week of the year. It become the norm. As a result of this behaviour...
- Accidents and falls are common because being drunk affects balance and co-ordination, leading to head, hand and facial injuries.
- It can lead to self-harming behaviours.
- In extreme cases, it can be fatal. Overdosing on alcohol can arrest breathing or stop the heart. You are also more likely to die choking on your own vomit.
- Binge drinking can also severely affect mood and memory and in the longer term can lead to serious mental health problems.
More commonly, of course, it leads to anti-social, aggressive and violent behaviour.
Alcohol Abuse
Alcohol abuse comes in several forms...
Work-related socialising and entertainment are hazards of many buying, selling and client servicing jobs. As a result, heavy drinking at lunchtimes and evenings can become a daily routine, leading to all the problems and risks associated with binge drinking but also bringing blackouts (not being able to remember what happened the previous evening), days missed from work because of hangovers and reduced efficiency due to poor concentration and memory.
Peer pressure, from workmates or a circle of friends, can also lead to regular weekday drinking sessions accompanied by weekend binges. Everyone buying their round amongst a group of 10 or 12 people can lead to drinks being consumed quicker, shots and shorts being drunk as opposed to more filling longer drinks and can encourage experimentation with mixes of drinks that rapidly boost overall alcohol intake.
Drinking early in the morning to kick-start the day, or drinking during the day just to get throught it, are obvious signs of alcohol becoming an addiction. This can produce mood swings, bipolar behaviour, increased risk-taking, secretive behaviour and ultimately damage relationships etc.
Alcoholism becomes the final stage of this downward spiral and ends with broken relationships, alienation of friends and family, debt, unemployment and dark moods and thoughts of self-harm.
How Hypnotherapy can Help.
By the time full-blown Alcoholism is reached, it is usually beyond the powers of a hypnotherapist to offer anything other than palliative support to work being done by psychiatrists or other specialists in the field. Often an alcoholic can only be helped with medication and spending time in a rehab facility where their behaviour can be monitored 24-hours a day over a period of time.
Hypnotherapy can, however, be of great value in dealing with the early stages of alcohol abuse especially with therapies relating to binge drinking, work related and peer pressure drinking and the very early stages of alcoholism proper.
Therapies can include NLP, PSTEC, Eye Movement and CBT reinforced by simple behaviour changing suggestions made under hypnosis. I teach clients how to drink like lightweights, to be able to keep pace with their companions but to consume only half the amount of alcohol. I also install strategies for keeping count of the number of drinks consumed and teach techniques to avoid becoming labelled as a "party-pooper" who doesn't drink like everyone else.
Case History
A recent client did a considerable amount of business entertaining throughout the week and at weekends and felt compelled to drink and keep up with everyone else. She was worried about the amount she was drinking and was aware that she had alcoholism in the family.
After just three sessions of hypnotherapy, she reported that despite having had the normal schedule of entertainment the previous week, she had had three days when she had chosen to drink nothing at all "because I just didn't fancy it"!
This remarkable result was not the product of willpower alone. She had applied the coping strategies she had been taught. She had had a "drinks counter" installed in her subconscious mind through hypnotic suggestion so that she was always aware of how many drinks she had consumed. Hypnosis had also been used to stimulate a growing awareness that she didn't have to have an alcoholic drink every time a round was bought, that sometimes she really didn't want an alcoholic drink, and that she had a choice which she could be proud to exercise.
If you would like to discuss any of the issues outlined above please give me a call or email for a free, no obligation telephone chat about how hypnotherapy can help YOU.
Keith Jefford DCH, DHP, GQHP, PSTEC Advanced
T: 01708 224698
M: 07970 111657
