Habits
Habits are related to anxiety in that many of us have rituals or habits to reduce our fears and give us a feeling of comfort. Overeating, for example, is often a habit that has been formed from childhood as a way of reducing distress or anxiety. Eating is a pleasurable and comfortable activity and we can learn to eat too much to keep ourselves calmer. This then has the reverse effect that we now feel anxious that we are overweight, at risk of ill health, and we do not feel like ourselves.
Smoking cigarettes, and other habits such overeating sweet things, nailbiting, hair pulling, skin picking, are usually simple to let go of with the aid of hypnosis.
I use an integrative CBT method from Salkovskis along with hypnosis to help with OCD, an evidence-based approach that enables you to gently face your fears in a supported and carefully stepped way.
Hypnosis is known for habit control such as giving up smoking and I have had much success with one-session stop smoking hypnotherapy, an approach tailored towards you, the client, and your own reasons for quitting.
Other habits such as drinking alcohol, smoking cannabis, cocaine and heroin addiction are discussed on a case by case basis. As a private therapist, I may not always be the best choice of therapist to work with. Alcohol addiction, for example, may need a careful multi-agency treatment plan that may involve inpatient medical care, to begin with. This is similar to substances such as heroin and opioids. It is unfortunate that many specialist services in the UK have been closed or are under threat of closure. If you feel that private therapy might help you, which it may if your dependency is reasonably under your control, then I am happy to discuss this with you.