Alcohol Problems

How do you know if you have an alcohol problem?

• You need to drink regularly especially if you cannot say 'No' to a drink.
• When you begin drinking you cannot stop.
• Your alcohol consumption is increasing.
• You wake in the morning and cannot remember what happened the night before.
• Your behaviour changes dramatically and for the worse when you drink, especially if you become vindictive and/or violent.
• Your health is being affected by your drinking.

What's happening when you drink alcohol?

How alcohol will affect you will depend on many factors. The most important factor is your state at the time of drinking. The chemistry of your body will be different when you are experiencing different emotions. The mixture of the chemistry of your body at the time plus the alcohol will determine how you are affected. If you are feeling down or depressed you will need a lot more alcohol to begin feeling good. This will mean you will need to approach or reach the state of intoxication before you begin to feel good.

As you know, prolonged overuse of alcohol, which is a poison to our bodies, will cause all manner of problems, both physical and mental.

Do you have an alcohol problem? Do you want to do something about it?

The Drinking Helpline

It is estimated that the annual social costs of alcohol abuse in New Zealand can be up to $2.4 billion. This is a huge problem. A Health Department survey a few years ago indicated that about one in six adults in N.Z. displayed drinking patterns that put them at risk of future negative physical and mental health effects. In other words, their drinking is seriously affecting the quality of their lives and how long they are likely to live for.

There is lots of help out there for alcoholics. The first thing is for you to recognise that your drinking is a problem.

Here are two case studies from Huddleston Hypnotherapy files:

'James' (not his real name) had been drinking every day for over 30 years. After work Monday to Friday he would begin drinking and drink into the night. On the weekends he would begin drinking as soon as possible. If he worked on Saturday he began after work. If he didn't work on Saturday he would begin drinking as soon as he got up. He did the same every Sunday. He was depressed and regretting all the lost opportunities in his life because of his drinking. He felt he needed to stop completely. We had a few hypnotherapy sessions and he has not drunk any alcohol for seven years.

'Mary' would binge drink. She wouldn't drink for a few days but as soon as the top came off a bottle of wine she just kept drinking; some nights up to three bottles. Often she would wake in the morning with no memory of the night before. Her husband and friends said her behaviour became extremely obnoxious. She was an embarrassment. She had three hypnotherapy sessions and she can now have one or two glasses of wine once or twice a week. She is now back in control. Her marriage, which was threatened, is improving.