Along with smoking cessation and eating disorders, treating alcoholism continues to be a specialty of mine. Since I started practice nearly 40 years ago, the rate of alcoholism in NYC – precisely, substance and alcohol abuse – hasn’t decreased by much. Last I read, over a million New Yorkers are drinking out of control; and a majority of this group are either in their twenties or underaged.
In a city with a thriving nightlife, heavy drinking might not come as a surprise to many people. However, integral to playing hard is the reward of exercising self-restraint in both work and play. I hate to sound old-timey, but there’s simply no fun in the aftermath of binging on alcohol. From my experiences and those of others, the pleasure is always in having fun to a maximum that is safe for you, if also because it saves the people around you from trouble too.
Everyone believes that the twelve-step AA Program has been highly effective for hundreds of thousands of people. It’s a popular solution. But don’t lose hope if you haven’t benefitted from the Program one bit. Remember your other options and that Clinical Hypnosis is one of the best.
Personally, my issue with the AA isn’t complicated. The program can take forever to complete and has a church-like tinge that can easily isolate its members from the very world they want to recover in. Why go through a potentially life-long process of recovering?
I like to say: “You come to me, and I’ll fix you.” The good part is that it only takes one step. You come into my office, we go over your history as an alcoholic, and after that we start the hypnosis. Treatment generally calls for three to five sessions.
Further, you leave equipped with the ability to exercise moderation – unless you specifically desire to abstain from alcohol completely, or unless your medical condition requires abstinence. Being an alcoholic does not mean you aren’t also a professional in some area. You have a family life of some kind that you want to enjoy. You have passions, hobbies, plans. Ask yourself: Do you really want to resign a large part of your life to routine meetings with a group of fellow ex-alcoholics, or do you want to shape up ASAP and live a future without alcoholism?
Call my office at (212) 599-3195 when you have an answer.