Education & Cognition 
Can hypnosis help with addiction?
How cognitive science and neuroscience can explain its positive impact
Can hypnosis help with addiction?
Can hypnosis help with addiction? Based on clinical textbooks, the best definition of the word “addiction” is the temptation and psychological desire to relive pleasant memories of the past or to escape from internal or external pressure. In this definition, the variables or factors that cause the continuation of a habitual or obsessive, or addictive action are :
In this definition, we explain several variables that cause the continuation or resumption of addiction.
1- Mental temptation: Mental temptation to use drugs or stimulants to achieve mental and physical peace.
2- Pleasant memories of the past: That is, pleasant memories of the past cause the temptation to use drugs or stimulants to come alive again in him.
3- Escape from internal stresses such as physical pain and mental restlessness: Sometimes the stress is caused by personal experiences or external pressure and sometimes physical pain causes a person to turn to drugs.
4- External pressures: Social and family problems are among the environmental factors that cause the continuation or resumption of addiction.
Regardless of the factors that cause addiction, a person who becomes addicted is affected both psychologically and physically. However, the psychological factors play more prominent roles the physical factors. As the evidence shows people who have tried addiction rehab centers or medical drugs numerous times have relapsed into taking them after a while.
Is addiction a crime or a disease:
I believe addiction is a disease. But the process of this disease begins with (crime) or delinquency. Therefore, the person who first starts using drugs commits a crime, and the continuation of this crime causes the person to become ill. In my opinion, since the prevalence of addiction is high, the crime can not be applied to it. In some cultures, smoking may even be a crime.
So addiction starts as a crime or delinquency, but the addict is sick and requires professional treatment.
Types of drugs:
In general, different types of drugs can be divided into three groups based on the feeling they create in a person:
1- Boring, sedative, or laxative substances that are either natural or industrial (artificial) in terms of quality.
Natural such as poppy products, opium, opium juice, and morphine.
Synthetic (industrial) such as heroin, papaverine, methadone, and…
2_ Hallucinogenic substances: Consumption of this type of substance causes sensory hallucinations such as visual, auditory, and physical hallucinations and also causes mental hallucinations such as skepticism, and…
Types of hallucinogens are also divided into natural and industrial types in terms of processing.
Natural such as cannabis, cannabis, cannabis, marijuana, grass, mescaline, hashish, etc.
Artificial (industrial) l. L.S.D., glass and
3- Energizing substances: By consuming such substances, a person feels false empowerment physically and mentally. These materials are also natural or artificial in terms of processing.
Natural such as cocaine, coca leaves, crack, etc.
Synthetics such as amphetamine and methyl amphetamine, etc.
Consequences of addiction:
The consequences of addiction vary according to the personality, economic status, and cultural level of individuals. Addiction, causes the breakdown and destruction of the family, mental and sexual disorders, pessimism and skepticism, theft and crime, moral corruption, isolation and escape from society, and many other cases.
Depending on the type of drug, its psychological and social consequences also differ. For example, “those who consume glass suffer from pessimism, suspicion, and delusions that cause irreparable problems for family members and themselves. Unfortunately, those who consume this type of substance believe that they have no addiction and they can leave it whenever they want.
Causes of addiction and harmful psychological dependencies
- Abundance of substances: Naturally, easy access to substances is another cause of addiction.
- Unemployment: Unemployment is another social problem that causes addiction.
- Lack of self-confidence: Another cause of addiction is a lack of self-confidence that a person tries to increase his self-confidence by using substances so that he can easily interact with others.
- Lack of recreational facilities (even educated people who do not have recreational facilities to spend their free time may turn to drugs to have a good time)
So, an hypnosis helps with addiction? I believe addiction is a type of obsessive-compulsive disorder. The person is obsessed with impurity, although he logically knows that he is clean, is unable to control his feelings.
Although substance abuse might be seen as a criminal act in many parts of the world, it sounds atrocious to say that addicts are guilty, but they should be seen as patients.
Can hypnosis help with addiction? (How cognitive science and neuroscience can explain its positive impact?)
An addicted person suffers a lot of pain while making effort to quit but returns to it after a while. This means that the person’s willpower is inadequate to resist the temptation to recreate the pleasurable states of the substance.
It seems that experts need to employ efficient methods eliminate the temptation to use drugs. Since hypnosis can penetrate the subconscious mind, psychological counseling and psychotherapy is the best way to get rid of addiction and psychological dependence on anything harmful.