Psychological coding for alcoholism is one of the most effective treatments used by narcologists in 
the USA and worldwide. By now, everyone knows that alcoholism is a disease. Alcoholism cannot be cured, but it can be stopped. To live a normal life, an alcoholic must adhere to total abstinence from alcohol. Having fallen ill, a person remains an alcoholic for the rest of his or her life, they will never be able to consume alcohol in moderate or small amounts. He or she has to make a choice, whether to quit alcohol fully and for good, or perish. Those who chose life, are called sober alcoholics or abstinent drinkers. There is a common joke among sober alcoholics, ‘An alcoholic cannot become a moderate drinker, just like it’s impossible to turn a pickled cucumber into a fresh one’.
Psychological Coding for Alcoholism
Psychological coding for alcoholism or, rather, psycho-therapeutic coding for alcoholism is the process involving various psycho-therapeutic techniques and patient’s mental reserves. This is a long term and steady method. Psychological coding for alcoholism is one of the oldest and time-tested techniques.
Psychoanalytic treatment for alcoholism and autogenic training had been in use at the beginning of the 20th century before anti-alcohol drugs and antidepressants were developed. The treatment resulted in stable improvement and helped patients to quit using alcohol for good.
Psychological treatment for alcohol is safe and reliable but requires much time since it is impossible to get rid of the malignant symptoms that had been manifesting themselves for years in just a few minutes or hours. To use patient’s mental reserves, his or her desire and patience are not sufficient since a fair amount of time is also required. One of the conditions for successful treatment is the cooperation between the doctor and the patient. A combination of hypnosuggestive therapy, neuro-linguistic programming, and behavioral and psychoanalytic therapy is the most widely used type of treatment for alcoholism.
This technique is successfully applied to patients who wish to understand their mistakes and misconceptions and change their behavior. This treatment technique is specifically indicated for patients who developed alcoholic dependency in association with long-term heavy consumption.
Alcoholism is a problem of codependency
While discussing the psychological coding for alcohol addiction, it is necessary to mention a codependency. Plainly speaking, people close to the patient who suffers from alcohol dependence always experience prominent neurotic conditions that are similar to the condition of the drinker. An alcoholic’s family constantly experiences the state of anxious anticipation, and relatives of the person who suffers from alcoholism always expect alcohol abuse to be resumed. In such families, interpersonal relationships are always compromised and close people continuously remain in a state of conflict. It is the psycho-therapeutic method that solves this issue successfully. In some cases, the family of a patient goes through a course of treatment together with him or her. This plays a significant role in restoring a healthy family climate and creating a favorable atmosphere for all the family members to get along. Sessions with co-dependent relatives are conducted both in groups and individually in the form of training.
In our clinic, high priority attributed to this method of treatment. In the recent years, there has been an increase in the number of people who wish to conquer the disease by means of their mental reserves and changing their psychological and emotional state through psychotherapy. The method is preferred by the patients who are afraid of drug therapy or wish to refrain from using medicines.
Alcoholism: hypnosuggestive and psychoanalytic therapy
We actively apply a combination of hypnosuggestive and psychoanalytic therapy.
If a patient follows doctor’s recommendations, the effect of treatment commonly observed after the first month or earlier. Such treatment prevents the patient from worrying about accidentally using alcohol and acquiring heavy disorders, it strengthens the patient’s belief in the capabilities of the body’s nervous, immune, and spiritual aspects. Psychological coding for alcoholism facilitates recovering from depression and anxiety that often lead to abusing alcohol in order to ‘relax’ and ‘relieve a stress’. Aside from that, there is one more important aspect of psychological coding for alcoholism: such treatment completely restores the compromised interpersonal relationships and understanding between the patient, patient’s friends, family, co-workers and neighbors that are always damaged because of alcohol abuse.
The main feature of psycho-therapeutical approaches for alcohol abuse recovery is safety and complete absence of side effects. Patients experience improvement in the quality of life and perception of the world. Psychotherapy can be combined well with coding for alcoholism and drug treatment which significantly facilitates psychological coding for alcoholism.
HYPNOTIC CODING FOR ALCOHOLISM
Nowadays, using hypnosis for treating alcohol abuse is extremely popular. Psychotherapist puts the patient into a special state and inoculates the individual with disgust towards the taste, appearance, and smell of alcohol. Aside from that, the physician initiates a program of consequences for violating the alcohol-free diet by suggesting that even one sip of alcohol might lead to an unfortunate outcome.
Contemporary Narcology has obtained the means of effectively dealing with numerous dependencies and addictions. It is not an exaggeration. A revolutionary breakthrough occurred in this field after the development and implementation of coding techniques for pathological dependencies. First of all, it is coding for alcoholism which is spreading and is one of the most common diseases, although it has not been officially registered. This is why no government programs aimed at eliminating this important social issue have been implemented yet.
Coding for alcoholism consists of psycho-therapeutic influence on a patient with a view to relieving psychological dependence from alcohol. This method is most effective for people who are susceptible to hypnosis. In the course of coding, the doctor influences patient’s subconscious to form a sense of disgust for alcohol. One session is enough. However, there is a disadvantage. A patient must abstain from alcohol for 15-20 days before coding.
The effect of coding happens because the patient acquires a conditioned reflex, thanks to which a feeling of satisfaction substituted by the experience of negative reaction from drinking. As soon as the person understands that alcohol is bad, the body deals with physiological problems on its own. Since the patient should have absolutely no access to alcohol during the treatment, it is best to have addict under observation on a daily basis.
After the completion of coding, even 50 g of alcohol can result in a severe, brutal response.
Pharmaceutical Coding for alcoholism
Currently, this is the most widespread method of treatment for chronic alcoholism. It is applied in all drug treatment centers and clinics. First of all, it is connected with the patient’s and their relatives’ wish to get rid of the issue within the shortest possible time. Application of alcohol blocking drugs can ensure such a result. Their effect is quick and can last different periods of time depending on the dosage, form, and method of drug administration, as well as on the individual characteristics of the body and habitual circumstances.
Advantages of the method:
- Suitable for treating any form and stage of alcoholism;
- The only method of treating alcohol addiction, overdose, and delirium tremens;
- Effective for supporting therapy and preventing relapse of the disease;
- A wide range of dosages and methods of drug administration;
- Available in drugstores and comprehensible in terms of drug administration.
Types of medications and treatment devices.
There are two main groups of alcohol blocking drugs applied in coding for alcoholism:
Competitors (inhibitors) of opioid receptors of the brain. These medicines bind to the opioid receptors to protect them from the irritant effect of alcohol. These receptors responsible for the appearance of euphoria associated with alcohol intoxication can emit special substances only in their free state when the stimulation by psychoactive substances occurs.
The main drug of the group of alcohol blocking medicines is Naltrexone. It is available in different forms: pills, injectable solutions, and prolonged capsules for subcutaneous or intramuscular implantation.
Toxicotherapy drugs. Drugs of this group produce toxic effects similar to alcohol overdose. Antabuse and its generic form – Disulfiram are the typical representatives of the group. Virtually all healthy people who experienced severe alcohol intoxication are familiar with the unpleasant sensations that appear the next day. This is the principle according to which such drugs work. Disulfiram blocks the enzymes that play the key role in neutralizing toxic products of ethanol metabolism. As a result, they are accumulated in the body and lead to a severe intoxication. This effect happens only as a result of the reaction between Disulfiram and Ethanol and also known as Disulfiram-Ethanol Reaction (DER). As soon as a tiny amount of alcohol consumed, DER comes to an action and an addict experiencing cruel “discomfort”. Naturally, the amount of the consumed alcohol while taking such medications, doesn’t change the strength, length, and severity of the symptoms. Once DER started it lasts between 4 and 8 hours depending on body weight.
Methods of drug administration are chosen individually depending on the type and stage of addiction. In acute conditions, tableted forms of Naltrexone are prescribed, which makes it possible to maintain an adequate dose of the drug in the blood depending on the patient’s condition. In the remission stage, the patient is either exposed to intramuscular injections or to the subcutaneous filing of prolonged capsules or gel-like substances that slowly release a stable dose of the drug to maintain an anti-relapse course of treatment.
The only drawback of the method is its relative expensiveness. Products of this sort are often costly and not all patients can afford them. Aside from that, severe symptoms of intoxication occur if patients violate the therapeutic regimen in the course of disulfiram treatment.
Laser Coding for alcoholism
The method is based on the effect of special laser beams on certain reflexogenic zones of the brain that are responsible for the development of pathological alpha alcoholism. It results in the erasure of the information that was stored there. Thus, they become absolutely free from any previous dependencies and the need for additional external stimulation to function normally. The developers of this method claim that it affects the core of the problem and is 100% effective if the patient has not yet developed the physical dependency on alcohol.
Advantages of laser coding for alcoholism:
- It is a course therapy that does not require continuous use;
- Absolutely harmless;
- Absence of side effects;
- Relative affordable.
- Highly effective for stage I or II of alcoholism.
The disadvantages are:
- uselessness at stage III of alcoholism
- the laser device is expensive and available at the limited treatment centers
The number of sessions required and the terms of their performance is prescribed individually depending on the effectiveness of the previous ones. Usually, 2-3 sessions of laser therapy are sufficient to make the patient forget about alcoholism for good. The method is rather popular, but it is not widespread yet since it requires expensive equipment that few establishments can afford.
Coding for alcoholism with the Help of Hypnosis
This method is based on positive effects of therapeutic hypnotic sessions. Hypnosis is a physical and mental condition when a person is experiencing a transitional state between sleeping and awakening. While in a hypnotic trance, the conscious part of the brain turns off and subconscious concentrated on hypnotherapist only. Thus, the brain is experiencing an unconscious state and features minimum activity of electromagnetic processes, but it does not lose the ability to receive external information from the hypnotist. Once a patient is in the trance, practitioner records the incoming information into the memory archives of the subconscious part of the nervous system.
Making use of these features, an experienced hypnotherapist is capable of relaxing a patient to such an extent where all the following words pronounced are perceived by the patient as the main instruction. After returning from the hypnotic state, all the subsequent activity of the neural cells is aimed at performing the embedded truths.
Dovzhenko’s METHOD: CODING FOR ALCOHOLISM
The most frequently used method of coding for alcoholism in psychological practice is the clinical Dovzhenko method. This Russian doctor 1980th was the first one to suggest treating alcohol dependency by influencing subconscious. Nowadays, the technique developed by Dovzhenko is actively applied in many Russian clinics.
The essence of psychological coding for alcoholism is the “infusion” of the idea to refuse alcohol for a certain period of time. As a rule, the influence on the psyche is performed through hypnosis. The effectiveness of psychological coding most of all depends on the individual characteristics of the patient. Everything should be taken into consideration, from the duration of each drinking bout to the general term of the illness. As a rule, the method significantly decreases and in some cases completely eliminates the craving for using alcoholic drinks. When considering performing psychological coding for alcohol addiction, it is important to understand that patients get a possibility of living a normal sober life, and the future only depends on themselves. They can brace themselves and be fully cured, or relapse and repeat everything again.
This method cannot be considered purely psycho-therapeutic since the technique involves certain hypnotic elements. This technique is unique as it implies putting a person into a hypnotic state while the eyes remain open. The information to be imported into the centers of the brain while the person is experiencing such a state should be aimed at creating a dominant (basic) attitude for the refusal of alcohol. This can be achieved either through justifying the mortal danger of alcohol abuse or by appealing to the positive qualities of the person related to the responsibility for family members. This is why this method is attributed to emotional stress psychotherapy.
Its development and implementation were inspired by the survival instinct, which is the strongest among all the existing unconditioned reflexes of a human brain.
The second element is the awakening of the person’s feelings and emotions that are inherent in nature due to the presence of higher nervous activity. The are emotions and reasoning capacity. It happens that these mechanisms shut down and lose their dominant position in people suffering from alcoholism. It is natural that their place is taken by an abnormal craving for alcohol. The developer of the original technique, Dovzhenko, managed to rearrange person’s priorities by reminding him or her of the death anxiety or of what a person should actually be like by making a comparison to the harsh reality.
Hypnotherapy is not easy to perform. Looking into someone’s subconscious is a perfect mastery, let alone programming the brain for performing certain actions. This is why the depth of hypnosis applied in the technique should be superficial enough for the patient to be able to perceive information through all sensory organs, especially through the visual analyzer, which is the strongest one. When certain emotions and feelings are invoked in such a manner, the occurring alternation of positive and negative moments motivates abstinence in connection with the mortal danger of alcohol and the usefulness of life to be experienced in case of abstinence.
This method is noteworthy because patients are programmed to experience disgust for alcohol for a certain period of time of their own choosing. It can be achieved with just one session that should last for approximately two hours. Three years is considered to be the best term for coding for alcoholism through this technique. It is strongly recommended to undergo a repeated session with the same specialist to consolidate the effect.
After analyzing all data concerning modern methods of treating alcohol dependency, it is possible to make several conclusions:
- Only the person’s desire is required to effectively cure an addict from the bad habit;
- Patient should be prepared for a long-term and steady elimination of the problem;
- Every patient requires an individual approach and treatment technique;
- Complex therapy combining all possible methods of coding is necessary;
- Strict observance of the therapeutic regimen will ensure a relapse-free course and will save from the side effects of treatment.
CONSEQUENCES OF ‘CODE BREAKING’
It is important for a “coded” patient to understand that even a sip of alcohol can lead to ‘code breaking’. Psychological consequences of this action can vary. One person’s body may have no reaction to consuming alcohol, while another’s will not be able to survive. There are known cases when a coded person experienced paralysis after using alcohol. Another negative consequence is blindness that can manifest itself in a few weeks and not immediately. In several cases, code breaking resulted in death.
But do not jump to conclusions in horror, rejecting the idea of psychological coding for alcohol addiction. Statistics are inexorable: every year, hundreds of times more people die from alcoholism rather than from code breaking. Aside from that, it is possible to avoid negative consequences of consuming alcohol after coding by immediately contacting the doctor who performed hypnosis.
From Coding For Alcoholism to Treatment
Once a person has been coded, he or she stops drinking, smoking, or gambling. They receive a ban on unhealthy behavior, but their dependence remains. It becomes harder for a coded person to live since he or she is deprived of a possibility to relax and rest in a habitual manner. Their stimulant is taken away, while no substitute is offered. A person with a ‘code’ is similar to a caged wild animal waiting to break free. They cannot wait to go on a bender. Some people manage to wait until such a moment, others are not stopped even by the death anxiety. Repeated coding after such a relapse is seldom effective.
This is why an addicted patient requires long-term psychotherapeutic treatment and coding should only be considered the initial stage followed by psychotherapeutic work. A ban alone is not sufficient, a change has to happen in the person (in his or her thoughts, views, behavior) which will allow them to rebuild their life and experience new possibilities while actualizing their potential. This is the aim set out for the course of psychotherapy that helps a person to get free from the addiction, to find a successful behavioral strategy, and become happy.
At the Philadelphia Hypnotherapy Clinic, Doctor Victor Tsan, the successor of the worldwide recognized psychotherapist and specialist in narcology, Alexander Dovzhenko, MD.
Victor Tsan, MD performs coding for alcohol addicted patients with the help of either Hypnotherapy, or Disulfiram based implant Esperal, or both, simultaneously, for a better result.
