NOTABLE QUOTABLE

[Addiction's] not about placating the bad dog – it’s about feeding the good dog.

You still have to feed the bad dog, but only enough so that the ASPCA doesn’t bring you up on charges.

Robert Downey Jr.,  Entertainment Weekly, 11-21-08

Addicted? Can't stop? Try Hypnotherapy. It Work!

Clients come to me all the time for help in ending an addiction that they can’t shake on their own. Hypnotherapy helps in a number of specific ways to ease the discomfort of breaking an addiction as well as preventing relapse. We’ll look at those in a moment but first let’s take a look at the definition of the word “addiction.”

MERRIAM-WEBSTER

Ad.dic.tion (noun)

1. Quality or state of being addicted.

2. Compulsive need for and use of a habit-forming substance (as heroin, nicotine, or alcohol) characterized by tolerance and by well-defined physiological symptoms upon withdrawal;broadly : persistent compulsive use of a substance known by the user to be harmful

Examples of ADDICTION

He has a drug addiction.

His life has been ruined by heroin addiction.

He devotes his summers to his surfing addiction.

Let me paraphrase. An addiction is a behavior characterized by the inability to stop the behavior without discomfort.

My first question to a person who seeks to be free of an “addiction” is: “What do you fear the most about quitting?” The reason I ask this first is because most people who are “addicted” to anything want to stop. Whether the “drug of choice” is nicotine, heroin, cocaine, crack, meth, overeating, sugar addiction, gambling the one constant is the fact that withholding of the substance causes discomfort.

The biggest obstacle to ending any addiction is dealing with the initial discomfort that follows interrupting the habit.

In fact, the biggest obstacle to ending any addiction is in FACING THE FEAR OF THE DISCOMFORT that follows any attempt to withhold or restrict the behavior.

Why pick these points? A habit is not an addiction. It’s a habit. What’s the difference? When you begin to change a habit you don’t have a gut-wrenching drive to continue it because the result of changing it doesn’t cause pain.

Try wearing your watch on the opposite hand than you usually use. It might be a little annoying but you won’t experience “withdrawal.” Therefore, wearing your watch on a different wrist is not an addiction; it’s a habit. Both physical and emotional withdrawal from an “addiction” are experienced as painful and, more importantly, intolerable.

A little off-topic but relevant is what I ask of clients who are in pain and accused (often unfairly) of being “addicted” to painkillers. My question to them: “Are you addicted to painkillers or are you addicted to being free of pain?” “Judge not lest you be judged” or something like that. Relief often floods their faces when I ask that. “Yes, you’re right. I’m ‘addicted’ to being painfree.”

Herein lies the real issue people deal with when attempting to end an addiction. By its very nature, when you withhold or withdraw the use of the substance, whatever it might be, the individual experiences mental, emotional and/or physical pain.

It is essential to helping an addict out of bondage is to help him to recognize, acknowledge and ease or eliminate this “pain” as well as eliminating his “anticipatory fear of the pain.”

Hypnosis is an accepted technique for relieving pain. When someone comes to me for help in relieving their addiction, the first thing I do is to eliminate both the actual “pain” as well as the fear of the perceived or anticipated “pain” that this person believes will follow his being separated from his “drug of choice.”

Certainly there many other issues involved in ending addiction, such as discovering the unsatisfied emotional need that drives the need to escape, relieve stress, learn coping techiniques, find joy and peace in one’s life without the substance.

However, I find that the very first thing that I need to do is give the client relief from that pain, whether the “pain” is experienced as physical or emotional. And to give them relief from their “anticipatory fear of the pain.”

Hypnosis itself provides easy relief from both pain and the fear of pain. We know that as a proven fact. Once the “pain” is addressed, the addict is then free to explore and discover the driving forces that made him seek out his addiction in the first place.

If you are struggling with an addiction or compulsion and finding that you cannot stop on your own, please consider using hypnosis to ease the pain, discomfort, and fear that stands in your way.

Unhappy? Maybe it’s too much small talk
Posted: 11:27 AM ET
By Elizabeth Landau
CNNHealth.com Writer-Producer

No talk? Small talk? Real talk is necessary for happiness and feelings of connection.

Small talk is part of everyday life, but it’s the substantial, meaningful conversations that may make you happy. That’s one possibility suggested in a new study examining how conversation connects to happiness.

Researchers, led by Matthias Mehl at the University of Arizona, looked at the different types of conversation that happy and unhappy people participate in. The study, published in the journal Psychological Science, was somewhat small, involving 79 undergraduates, but meshes well with established ideas that happiness and social life are intertwined.

Experts found that the happiest people in the study engaged in only one-third as much small talk as the unhappiest participants. Happy people tended to have twice as many substantive conversations, and spent 25 percent less time alone, than the unhappiest participants.

These insights fit with what psychologists have seen previously: that loneliness predicts depression, and that feelings of social connectedness are important for happiness, said Susan Turk Charles, psychologist at the University of California, Irvine, who was not involved in the study.

Substantive conversations create a feeling of belonging that leads to happiness, she said. Conversely, people who suffer from depression tend to withdraw from others.

The method that the researchers used was creative, Charles said. Instead of bringing people into a lab, as traditionally done in these sorts of studies, they had participants wear a recording device for four days, picking up conversations that they had.

The Electronically Activated Recorder sampled 30 seconds of sound every 12.5 minutes, giving researchers a broad range of conversations to examine in terms of “small talk” vs. “deep conversation.”

The bottom line is that maintaining friendships can help with emotional well-being. Friends buffer negative events and provide support, Charles said. Don’t be too busy to have a meaningful conversation, she said.

“It really is important in your life. It should be something that you prioritize just as much as you prioritize, maybe, working on your career or getting that project finished,” she said.

Editor’s Note: Medical news is a popular but sensitive subject rooted in science. We receive many comments on this blog each day; not all are posted. Our hope is that much will be learned from the sharing of useful information and personal experiences based on the medical and health topics of the blog. We encourage you to focus your comments on those medical and health topics and we appreciate your input. Thank you for your participation.

Posted by: Elizabeth Landau – CNN.com Health Writer/Producer
Filed under: Psychology

The human need for feelings of meaningful connection are recognized by Abraham Mazlow in his “Hierarchy of Needs,” Joe Griffin and Ian Tyrrell in the work on the “Human Givens,” and probably throughout history.

I’ve always noticed how nervous I get when I’m stuck in a situation where people are going to talk about “kids and crabgrass” or “Dancing With The Stars” and the latest “Survivor” series.

How about you? Do you ever feel lonliest in a crowd? It sounds like it is a natural human response. On the other hand, if social phobia holds you back, hypnotherapy can help.

Here’s to your success….

Susan French
www.hypno4success.com/blog
hypno4success@socal.rr.com
877-583-2026

Please remember: your comments are valued.  Please make them.  SKF

DID YOU READ THIS?  YOU SHOULD!

From Medicine.net: http://www.medicinenet.com/metabolic_syndrome/article.htm#tocb

What is metabolic syndrome?

An association between certain metabolic disorders and cardiovascular disease has been known since the 1940s. In the 1980s this association became more clearly defined and the term metabolic syndrome (also known as syndrome X or the dysmetabolic syndrome) was coined to designate a cluster of metabolic risk factors that come together in a single individual. In more current times, the term metabolic syndrome is found throughout medical literature and in the lay press as well. There are slight differences in the criteria of diagnosis – depending on which authority is quoted. Regardless, the concept of a clustering of risks factors leading to cardiovascular disease is well accepted.

The main features of metabolic syndrome include insulin resistance, hypertension (high blood pressure), cholesterol abnormalities, and an increased risk for clotting. Patients are most often overweight or obese.

Insulin resistance refers to the diminished ability of cells to respond to the action of insulin in promoting the transport of the sugar glucose, from blood into muscles and other tissues. Because of the central role that insulin resistance plays in the metabolic syndrome, a separate article is devoted to insulin resistance.

Click here to read more.  http://www.medicinenet.com/metabolic_syndrome/article.htm#tocb

I will be posting a new segment each day though.

If you need help with weight management,  hypnosis is known by far to be the most helpful for dealing with all the challenges of weight management.  Call for free consultation.  877-583-2026

Susan French

http://www.hypno4success.com/programs/lose-weight/