Hypnotically Enhanced Treatment for Addictions: Alcohol Abuse, Drug Abuse, Gambling, Weight Control and Smoking Cessation

There is a dearth of literature and training experiences on the use of hypnosis in the treatment of alcohol abuse/problem drinking, drug abuse, and gambling.

This book offers new strategies, techniques, and scripts for use with problem drinkers, alcoholism, drug addiction, and gambling addiction in an outpatient population. It also reviews old and new techniques or combinations of techniques, strategies, and scripts for other addictions. Five key addictions are addressed: alcohol abuse and dependency, drug abuse and addiction, gambling compulsions/obsessions and addictions, tobacco addiction (including cigars, pipes and chew), food addiction/compulsions.

Many of the techniques and strategies incorporate a variety of therapeutic modalities, including: cognitive-behavioral techniques, reframing and other NLP techniques, systematic desensitization, covert sensitization, 12-step-programs, guided imagery and meditation, and more. The techniques described can be employed both in and out of trance.

Chapter I is an overview of how the author does hypnosis and how he orients new patients to his approaches. Chapter II deals with alcohol abuse and problem drinking using two different models: abstinence and moderation management. Chapters III and IV focus on drug abuse and pathological gambling. Chapters V and VI deal with smoking cessation and weight loss. While much is already written in these two areas, the author presents some novel approaches to packaging the sessions, along with his own approaches to treating these problems. Chapter VII offer conclusions.

In summary, all of the strategies, techniques, and scripts herein have to do with helping clients take more effective control of their lives.

Joseph Tramontana, PhD has been a Licensed Clinical Psychologist for 38 years and is a long-standing member of the American, Mississippi, and Louisiana Psychological Associations. He received Certification in Clinical Hypnosis from the American Society for Clinical Hypnosis, and has been using these techniques in his practice for the past 30 years.