Are you hopelessly addicted to a behaviour that you’ve tried many times to quit, but with varying degree of success? Perhaps you’ve been hiding your addiction from your partner, family or friends for years? Do you fear the consequences of being found out? Is your addiction draining your finances? Is your addiction impacting negatively on your intimate relationships?  Do you find yourself spiralling down into a cycle self-loathing every time you act out your addiction?  If all this sounds familiar, you’re in the right place, let me introduce myself to you, I'm Nick and I’m a Member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) an organisation which is governed and regulated by the UK Professional Standards Authority. I have a special interest and focus on addiction therapy. To compliment my integrative counselling skills, I also hold a Diploma in Clinical Hypnotherapy issued by the United Kingdom Academy of Integrative Therapy an organisation governed by the General Hypnotherapy Standards Council. I am fully insured and hold an Enhanced Level DBS Certificate.

If your worried about addiction, let me assure you that it’s within your power to quit any form of addiction, however big it may seem. Throughout the process of professional and confidential therapy, you will start to understand what led you to your destructive and addictive behavioural cycle in the first place. Thereafter using the power of this insight, you will be able to develop a highly effective strategy to free yourself from the chains of addiction for ever, leading you to lasting freedom and happiness that you so much deserve.

Most people associate addiction with the more common ones, such as gambling, drugs, alcohol and smoking etc, but with the advent of the internet, modern day addictions now cover a much wider sphere of activities than ever before. With just a couple of clicks of the mouse unlimited access can be gained to live chat rooms, social media apps, dating sites, shopping platforms, porn sites, gambling sites etc, etc.

Never has so much temptation been available to mankind than now, with such ease of access. Most initial and highly seductive ventures appear harmless, but within weeks, months and even days, those so-called harmless adventures can soon find the newfound explorer hopelessly addicted to their new drug of choice.

With thousands seeking help each week for a wide variety of addictions, some old, some new, it’s worth noting that many of these involve us acting out our addictions in complete isolation to everyday work, relationships and other responsibilities. This in turn, means that we will soon slowly withdraw from the realities of everyday life. Common negative indicators will manifest in several ways for example marital & intimate relationships, work problems, lack of concentration and a general negative prevailing mood, which in time will result in bouts of depression, self-loathing and depression.

People often ask “well how do I really know if I’m addicted?” the simple answer to that question, I respond is to ask yourself, Does the activity I’m indulging in actively seek to control me ?  If the answer is YES, then you are to some degree addicted.

There’s no hard and fast rule as to why one individual is more susceptible to addiction than another, it was long thought that certain genetic factors could pre-dispose someone to being vulnerable to addiction, but more recent finding suggest that this is not the case for many people.

There is however plenty of evidence to support the fact that dysfunctional families, childhood trauma and sexual abuse and more recently that some prescribed medications can contribute to a propensity of extreme addictive activity.

Other life changing events can also have the potential to propel someone into addictive activity for example relationship or marriage breakups, a bereavement, some form of event trauma resulting in Post Traumatic Stress (PTSD), financial losses, or the sudden and unexpected loss of employment. The list is endless as we are all effected differently by the events we experience in life. 

If you would like to learn more about addiction and the various forms of addictions that I specialise in, then please scroll through the various pages on this  website and if you'd like to find out more about my therapy session or take advantage of a free consultation, please just make an enquiry via the contact page

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