Hypnotherapy and alcohol
A look at the effects of alcohol on the body and mind, and how hypnotherapy can help people who drink.
In many countries, drinking alcohol is a social activity and one that can be actively encouraged. In the past, people driving home from the pub were encouraged to “have one for the road”! And, in many groups, heavy drinking is a way of showing a person’s manliness (and, sometimes, womanliness)! But excessive alcohol consumption can have an obvious negative effect on a person’s health. And the World Health Organization (WHO) published a statement in The Lancet Public Health: “when it comes to alcohol consumption, there is no safe amount that does not affect health”.
It’s hard to tell when humans first started consuming alcoholic drinks, but there’s evidence from China from 5000BCE and older, from Iran and Egypt from 3000BCE and older, and from many other places in the pre-Christian era. So, alcohol use in society is a very old habit.
There are, according to the work of Kenneth Cooper and colleagues, four types of drinkers, which are:
Social – usually associated with moderate alcohol use to celebrate an event or make the time spent with friends more fun.
Conformity – drinking to fit in with others, but usually drinking less than other people.
Enhancement – drinking because it’s exciting. These, are thought by some to be male, extrovert, impulsive, and aggressive people, who are looking to get drunk and take risks.
Coping – using alcohol to cope with life and forget their worries. The habit can lead to alcohol-related problems.
Of course, these motives vary across age, culture, and personality.
A single unit of alcohol equals 10ml or 8g of pure alcohol, which is around the amount of alcohol that the body can metabolize in an hour, but this varies substantially by sex, weight, liver health, food intake, genetics, and medications. That’s about half a pint of beer/lager/cider with an ABV of 3.6 percent) or a single small shot measure (25ml) of spirits (25ml, ABV 40 percent). A small glass (125ml, ABV 12 percent) of wine contains about 1.5 units of alcohol.
The current recommendation by the UK Chief Medical Officer is to drink no more than 14 units of alcohol a week, spread across three days or more. That’s around 6 medium (175ml) glasses of wine, or 6 pints of 4% beer. However, as we said, the WHO states that no level of alcohol consumption can be considered completely risk-free from a cancer-prevention perspective, because even low consumption carries some measurable carcinogenic risk.
The NHS website lists the short-term impact of drinking alcohol. It says:
1 to 2 units – the heart rate speeds up, and blood vessels expand, giving the warm, sociable and talkative feeling associated with moderate drinking.
4 to 6 units – the brain (the part associated with judgement and decision making) and nervous system start to be affected, causing more reckless and uninhibited behaviour. People also feel light-headed with slower reaction times and worse coordination.
8 to 9 units – reaction times become much slower, speech begins to slur, and vision begins to lose focus. The inability of the liver to remove all the alcohol consumed leads to a hangover in the morning.
10 to 12 units – coordination is highly impaired, and people feel drowsy. Increased urination leads to dehydration and severe headaches. The excess alcohol upsets digestion, leading to nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, and indigestion.
Over 12 units – puts people at risk of developing alcohol poisoning. This is where excessive amounts of alcohol start to interfere with the body’s automatic functions, such as breathing, heart rate, and the gag reflex (which prevents choking). It can cause a person to fall into a coma and could lead to their death.
There are other risks associated with alcohol misuse, including:
Accidents and injury – more than 1 in 10 visits to accident and emergency (A&E) departments are because of alcohol-related illnesses.
Violence and antisocial behaviour – each year in England more than 1.2 million violent incidents are linked to alcohol misuse.
Unsafe sex – this can lead to unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections (STIs)
Loss of personal possessions – many people lose personal possessions, such as their wallet or mobile phone, when they’re drunk.
Unplanned time off work or college – this could put your job or education at risk.
There are some groups of people who shouldn’t drink at all. They are:
People under 18
Pregnant women, women who think they might be pregnant, and women who are planning to become pregnant.
People taking certain medications that can interact with alcohol, eg cold and flu remedies, some antibiotics, sleeping tablets, antidepressants, antihistamines, benzodiazepines, opioids, and antipsychotic medications.
People planning to drive or use heavy machinery.
Recovering alcoholics.
There are many health risks associated with long-term alcohol misuse. They include:
High blood pressure and heart disease
Stroke
Pancreatitis
Liver disease
Liver cancer
Mouth, throat, and oesophageal cancer.
Head and neck cancer
Breast cancer
Bowel cancer
Depression and anxiety
Dementia
Sexual problems, such as impotence or premature ejaculation.
Infertility
Weakening of the immune system
Damage to the brain, which can lead to problems with thinking and memory.
Weight gain.
As well as having a significant impact on a person’s health, alcohol misuse can also have long-term social implications. For example, it can lead to:
Family break-up and divorce
Domestic abuse
Unemployment
Homelessness
Financial problems.
Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) is the medical diagnosis for alcohol addiction, which is characterized by the inability to control alcohol consumption. Alcohol abuse is the regular and excessive consumption of alcohol that is still under your control. Alcohol abuse could develop into alcohol use disorder. Addicts usually develop withdrawal symptoms whenever their blood alcohol levels drop below the tolerance level they’ve built up. The brain needs to adapt to the absence of alcohol. Using alcohol to prevent this discomfort is called physical dependence. Using alcohol to experience mental effects is called psychological dependence.
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) categorizes substance abuse disorders, such as alcohol use disorder, as mild, moderate, or severe based on the number of diagnostic criteria met by an individual. These diagnostic criteria include evidence of:
Impaired control
Social impairment
Risky use
Pharmacological criteria.
Let’s revisit the WHO’s opinion on alcohol. They say that alcohol is a toxic, psychoactive, and dependence-producing substance and has been classified as a Group 1 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. That’s the same group as asbestos, radiation, and tobacco. As mentioned above, alcohol can cause different types of cancer, and the risk of developing cancer increases substantially as more alcohol is consumed.
The anticipation and consumption of alcohol can activate mesolimbic dopamine pathways associated with reward prediction and reinforcement. The release of dopamine in the brain makes the idea of the experience, or the experience pleasurable.
When a person drinks, about 20 to 30 percent of the alcohol is absorbed by the stomach. The rest is absorbed in the small intestines. The liver takes about an hour to breakdown one unit.
Alcohol is a depressant, which means it reduces activity in the brain. It suppresses excitatory glutamatergic signalling (particularly via NMDA receptors) while enhancing inhibitory GABAergic signalling, producing sedation, impaired memory formation, and slower cognitive processing. Glutamate is an excitatory neurotransmitter that is important in memory formation and regulating cognitive functions. The effect is that you get hazy. GABA is an inhibitory neurotransmitter.
In fact, with alcohol consumption, people become relaxed and sleepy, their anxiety levels decrease, so they become less inhibited in what they say and do. They also become clumsier and have problems concentrating. People usually become more animated and smiley. Their heart rate increases, their blood pressure may rise, and they become red-faced. The warm and fuzzy feeling starts around the end of the second pint.
Even small amounts of alcohol can cause cancer. WHO research is unable to indicate the existence of a threshold at which the carcinogenic effects of alcohol ‘switch on’ and start to manifest in the human body. That means, as mentioned earlier, that there is no safe level of alcohol consumption.
There are standard screening measures for alcohol use disorder, they include:
World Health Organization AUDIT
AUDIT-C
DSM-5 diagnostic criteria.
When it comes to using solution-focused hypnotherapy for helping with AUD or alcohol abuse, the British Psychological Society (BPS) is onboard with idea. In 2001 it said: “Enough studies have now accumulated to suggest that the inclusion of hypnotic procedures may be beneficial in the management and treatment of a wide range of conditions and problems encountered in the practice of medicine, psychiatry, and psychotherapy”.
That was 25 years ago, subsequent evidence has been mixed, and hypnosis is generally considered an adjunctive rather than stand-alone treatment for alcohol dependence, some studies suggest it may enhance motivation and relapse prevention when integrated with broader psychological treatment.
Any clients showing signs of physical dependence should be referred for medical assessment before attempting abstinence, because alcohol withdrawal can be medically dangerous and sometimes life-threatening.
Solution-focused hypnotherapy may be helpful for problematic drinking where motivation for change is present and physical dependence is absent or medically managed. It should not be presented as a substitute for medical detoxification, specialist addiction treatment, or multidisciplinary care where severe alcohol dependence exists.
Keeping the focus clearly on what the client wants to achieve, and using solution-focused questions to highlight not only the client’s motives but also the strengths they already have that they can use to achieve their goal, will clearly help to motivate them to achieve their goal.
The power of trance and the use of metaphors and indirect suggestions will also help to reinforce adaptive cognitive and behavioural changes through the focused attention, suggestion, and mental rehearsal. This may help reduce ambivalence and strengthen commitment to behavioural change. The relaxation and the visualizations of trance will also help.
Relapse prevention is an important part of helping clients reduce or stop problematic drinking. Change is rarely a straight line, and many people experience lapses on the way to lasting recovery. A lapse – such as having a drink after a period of abstinence – does not necessarily mean failure or a full relapse. Helping clients understand this can reduce the “abstinence violation effect”, where a person interprets a single lapse as proof that they have failed completely and therefore returns to heavier drinking.
A useful part of relapse-prevention work is helping clients identify the situations, emotions, thoughts, and environments that trigger drinking behaviour. Common triggers include stress, loneliness, boredom, social pressure, conflict, celebration, and habitual environmental cues such as passing a familiar pub or drinking at certain times of day. Once these triggers have been identified, the client can begin to develop practical coping strategies. These might include changing routines, avoiding high-risk situations in the early stages of recovery, increasing social support, developing healthier reward systems such as exercise or hobbies, and rehearsing responses to social pressure.
Solution-focused questioning can be particularly effective in relapse prevention because it encourages clients to focus on previous successes and existing resources. Asking questions such as, “When have you successfully resisted drinking in the past?” or “What was different on the days when alcohol felt less important?” helps clients recognise that they already possess strengths and strategies they can build upon. Exploring exceptions to the problem often reveals practical solutions that can be repeated and strengthened.
Hypnotic trance can also support relapse prevention by helping clients mentally rehearse successful coping behaviours. Guided visualisation can allow clients to imagine themselves confidently navigating challenging situations, declining alcohol calmly, and experiencing pride in making healthier choices. Repeated mental rehearsal strengthens expectancy and self-efficacy, making adaptive responses feel more familiar and automatic when real-life challenges arise.
It is also helpful to encourage clients to create clear implementation intentions – “if-then” plans for difficult moments. For example: “If I feel stressed after work, then I will go for a walk before going home,” or “If I am offered alcohol at a social event, then I will ask for sparkling water instead.” These pre-planned responses reduce the need for effortful decision-making in moments of temptation and strengthen behavioural consistency.
Above all, relapse prevention should emphasise self-compassion and learning rather than blame. If a lapse occurs, it should be explored with curiosity rather than judgement. Understanding what happened, what can be learned, and what changes can be made strengthens resilience and increases the likelihood of long-term success. This fits naturally with the solution-focused approach of building on progress rather than dwelling on failure.
Importantly, no therapy sessions should take place if the client is under the influence of alcohol.
Many of the consequences of using alcohol can be helped by a solution-focused hypnotherapist, who will have plenty of experience dealing with clients experiencing depression, anger, or anxiety.
References:
https://www.who.int/europe/news/item/04-01-2023-no-level-of-alcohol-consumption-is-safe-for-our-health
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_alcoholic_drinks
https://www.emedicinehealth.com/what_are_the_4_types_of_drinkers/article_em.htm
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/alcohol-misuse/risks/
https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/alcohol-advice/calculating-alcohol-units/
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/alcohol-misuse/
https://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/fact-sheets/alcohol-use.htm
https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/medicines-and-alcohol
https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohols-effects-health/alcohols-effects-body
https://stepbysteprecovery.co.uk/blog/can-hypnosis-treat-alcohol-addiction/