by Rob Hadley

Created on: August 22, 2008   Last Updated: April 09, 2009

My client, a wealthy financier, said quite seriously "I only use the best stuff. Like my food, I like to eat organic. Everything. Organic vegetables, meats I mean everything. If I could get organic cocaine, I would."

Great, I thought. Maybe a Fair trade' version would be next.

And yet, this client was not unusual. It's quite normal amongst cocaine users of a certain genre to have very high personal and ethical standards. Their use of cocaine is an anomaly in their lives. Often it's the only anomaly. Most of my clients are extremely affluent and in the above case, he was maintaining a $1000 a day coke habit while remaining essentially a fully functional human being. For the time being. Not many people can do that for long. The heart eventually simply stops.

I work with many drug users treating their addictions. I am a clinical hypnotherapist, and I specialize in addictions. From cigarettes across the spectrum to crack. Treatment requires a number of steps but is extremely effective.

First of all clients are prepared for a successful outcome. It will require them to amend their diet, and work at an effective exercise regime. There is unlikely to be a successful outcome without these elements in place. Hypnosis is used to create motivation to eat healthily and to exercise.

Then a weaning process is set in motion. The substance used is reduced over a period, and eventually eradicated entirely. Some substances have to be gradually reduced, others can be swiftly stepped down. It entirely depends on the substance type. A rapid cessation of either alcohol or cocaine (from high consumption levels) can place the client under enormous pressure, and even result in heart failure.

During the weaning process there is time to develop an exploration of the original causes of the addiction. This is where hypnosis and hypnotherapy really comes into its own. Learning what caused the original addiction, and reorganizing the way the client allows certain activities to trigger drug use is the single area that is most effective in this form of treatment. For this reason addicts that go through hypnotherapy are among those least likely to slip back into drug use at a later date.

Ultimately hypnosis is used to maintain a healthy lifestyle and motivate the client into a set of behaviors likely to exclude any form of drug use. Apart from hard drugs, I also work with alcohol, pot, pornography and gambling addictions. I also help people with addictions to cigarettes (www.robhadleyhypnosis.com), in group sessions in New York, Miami and San Francisco. Group sessions can be extremely effective for some people.

The hardest addiction to work with? Crack?

No, actually crack is not that hard. The toughest of all is gambling. The reason being there is rarely a physiological element to it. One has to wait for a life crisis' before the addict is ready to deal with it. Most drug addicts can't help but notice when certain parts of their body just cease to function properly. But Gambling is different. The addict is only going to be ready when a crisis happens, and gives them a wake-up call. One has to hope it happens before things fall apart completely.

My worst addict?

$1,600 a day betting on game results. Every day. Yes, I did get him clear - after about two weeks.

My $1000 a day cocaine addict? Yes, I got him clear. And a year and a half on he's still clear. The jury is out on how long he'll stay clean, but I think he'll be fine.

Learn more about this author, Rob Hadley.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.