A smart approach to overcoming addictions

I was listening to a radio programme this evening talking about alcoholism. One caller told the presenter about a drug she was taking that made her nauseous whenever she drank alcohol as a way of overcoming her addiction. She went on to say that it wasn’t really helping with her addiction and that she would have to go into rehab.

trees1As an Emotional Freedom Techniques therapist, this was unsurprising to me – during training, we are taught to investigate the underlying reasons, or root causes, for the addiction and work on that root cause using EFT. The reason for this is that without working on the root cause, the addiction will not truly be overcome and you may find that you end up drinking to excess again or you may become addicted to something else!

In fact, you could consider the addiction to merely be a symptom of a deeper underlying problem.

Think about anyone you know who has kicked a habit – did they soon adopt another addiction? Can you see that they will need the help of a therapist again? Have you quit smoking thinking that smoking was a habit you’d kicked once and for all only to take it back up months later?

Now consider their past – are you aware of any traumatic events in their past including their childhood that have been left forgotten? By applying EFT to deal with these traumatic events, the addiction, whether drug addiction, nicotine addiction or alcoholism, will finally be dealt with and the victim will be able to move on with their lives free of addiction.