Does It Work?

Hypnosis for Alcohol Addiction: Cutting Back, Safety and the Evidence

A glass of wine to wind down has become most of a bottle, most nights. If that sounds familiar, this page on hypnosis for alcohol addiction covers free steps for cutting back, and two recordings that give you a structured, repeatable way to relax and rehearse drinking less.

Written by Ernest McLeodClinical hypnotherapist. An Adelaide practice, seeing clients across Australia by video. Fourteen years in practice. About Ernest →

I earn a commission when someone buys a session through this site, and two drinking sessions are listed near the bottom. It doesn’t change what you pay or what I recommend, and everything I recommend first is free.

Can you get hypnotised to stop drinking?

You can be hypnotised, and a recording can guide you into that relaxed, focused state at home. The two sessions here are about drinking less rather than stopping. Each is about 25 minutes of guided relaxation, then rehearsal: going through the kind of evening you want, with fewer drinks in it. Played at the hour the habit usually starts, it gives that hour a different, repeatable routine.

Is a recording a lesser version of seeing someone in person? The largest recent review of hypnosis for pain (Yim and Derbyshire, 2026) compared how it was delivered and found no meaningful difference between a live clinician, a recording and self-hypnosis. An earlier review of 20 controlled studies with surgical patients (Montgomery, 2002) compared live and taped hypnosis directly and found no significant difference either. That research was on pain and surgery, not on drinking, but it’s the best evidence there is that a recording isn’t a second-rate version of sitting in a room with someone. What trials of hypnosis for drinking itself found is set out further down.

Where is the line between cutting back and needing help?

The two recordings are for one kind of drinker: someone drinking more than they mean to who is well short of dependence. If you drink heavily every day, or have ever had what healthdirect lists as withdrawal symptoms (nervousness, sweating, confusion, seizures) when you went without, you are past that line, and the place to start is a GP or 1800 250 015 rather than a recording. If you drink more than you want to, on more evenings than you meant to, and none of that applies, the sessions below were made for you. Unsure? Ask 1800 250 015.

What kills the urge to drink alcohol?

Nothing switches it off outright. Naltrexone is the closest thing with evidence, and in trials it lowered the risk of heavy drinking; that starts with a GP. The free steps below give you a number, a plan and people to talk to. They sit well alongside a recording, and its evening routine is a good place to go over the plan you make with them.

1. Ring the hotline or open the chat

   1800 250 015 connects you to your state’s alcohol and drug service. Counselling Online offers free chat, 24/7, if you would rather type than talk.

2. Count one ordinary week in standard drinks

   An Australian standard drink is 10 grams of alcohol. Write down every one for seven days without changing anything. It is hard to cut back from a number you have never seen.

3. Take that number to a GP

   Ask for the brief conversation Kaner’s review measured, and ask about acamprosate or naltrexone by name. If mornings without a drink have ever left you shaky, sweaty or confused, say so first.

4. Sit in on one peer-support meeting

   Alcoholics Anonymous or SMART Recovery, rated Level A in the guidelines for staying off alcohol or cutting down. One meeting commits you to nothing.

Which recordings are for cutting back?

Both are about drinking less rather than stopping, and both are for people below the line above. Each is guided relaxation and rehearsal, US$18.95, about A$27, with the publisher’s 90-day refund on singles. Pick the one that matches how you drink: Moderate Drinking for drinks of any kind, Drink Less Wine if it’s mostly wine in the evening.

• Moderate Drinking

  25:11 · narrated by Roger Elliott · US$18.95

  For regularly drinking more than you meant to, below the line above, when the goal is fewer drinks rather than none. No preview.

  Add to my basket

• Drink Less Wine

  25:28 · narrated by Roger Elliott · US$18.95

  For an evening wine habit that has crept up, below the line above. The publisher has a preview.

  Add to my basket

The publisher reports 2,216 and 3,277 lifetime purchases; those are its own figures, which I can’t audit. Recordings are also sold for getting through withdrawal itself. I list none, anywhere on this site, because withdrawal needs medical care.

What is the fastest way to detox from alcohol?

If you have been drinking heavily every day, there is no safe fast way to do it on your own. The Australian evidence review calls alcohol withdrawal “a physical illness” that “may be life threatening if left untreated”. The guidelines add that most withdrawal can be managed outside hospital “with appropriate support”: a GP, or the service 1800 250 015 connects you to.

StatPearls gives the timings: “Withdrawal seizures can occur in patients within just a few hours of alcohol cessation.” Withdrawal delirium can follow between days 3 and 8, and although it is uncommon, “this condition may prove fatal”.

Which therapy is most suitable for alcoholism?

The 2021 Australian guidelines give their top grade of evidence, Level A, to four things. Brief motivational conversations for people drinking at risky levels. Cognitive behaviour therapy as a first-line talking therapy for dependence. Two medicines: acamprosate to help keep people off alcohol, naltrexone against relapse to heavy drinking. And peer support such as Alcoholics Anonymous and SMART Recovery.

The effects are moderate, and measured in thousands of people. Kaner’s 2018 Cochrane review pooled 34 studies and 15,197 people: a year after a brief intervention, people drank about 20 grams less a week. That is two Australian standard drinks, from a short conversation, and longer counselling probably adds little.

Acamprosate: 24 trials, 6,915 people, about nine treated for one extra kept off alcohol (two review authors declared manufacturer honoraria). Naltrexone: 50 trials, 7,793 people, the risk of heavy drinking cut to 83 per cent of placebo’s. Whether either suits you, and at what dose, is a GP conversation.

What does the research say about hypnosis for drinking?

Five controlled studies of hypnosis for alcohol exist, found in a search of PubMed, Europe PMC and Crossref run for this page in September 2026. None of the four with readable results found hypnosis did better than its comparison. Any success rate you meet for this comes from a practitioner counting their own clients, with no comparison group.

Turner and colleagues, 2023. The largest: 328 US veterans with chronic pain had eight weeks of group hypnosis, mindfulness or pain education. “There was no intervention effect on tobacco or alcohol use at either posttreatment follow-up.” The hypnosis targeted pain, not drinking. If you see this trial quoted for an 82 per cent drop, that was daily cannabis use; alcohol didn’t change.

Pekala and colleagues, 2004. The closest design to a recording, and the only one to test self-hypnosis tapes. 261 veterans in rehab got self-hypnosis audiotapes, a CBT package, a stress-management placebo, or nothing extra. “Relapse rates did not significantly differ across the 4 groups at follow-up,” seven weeks on. Those who chose to play the tapes three to five times a week reported more self-esteem and serenity, though that group chose itself.

Shestopal and Bramness, 2019. 31 people in a Norwegian inpatient programme had five hours of hypnotherapy or of motivational interviewing added. At one year, “there were no statistically significant differences” (results from the trial’s 2018 write-up; the 2019 text could not be accessed). One therapist, who “has a personal preference for it”, ran every hypnosis session.

Jacobson and Silfverskiold, 1973. Hypnosis for 40 patients, psychotherapy for 40, six months of follow-up. “No statistically significant differences”, “but the trend in the results is in favour of the hypnosis group.”

Edwards, 1966. A controlled trial at the Maudsley. Its results could not be read for this page, so they are not described here.

Australia’s 2021 alcohol guidelines did not re-examine hypnosis. The evidence review behind them, prepared for the Department of Health, says: “we have not revisited treatments that were considered previously to have little potential. These included aversive therapy, relaxation training, systematic desensitisation, interpretive therapy and hypnosis.” “Little potential” was an earlier edition’s judgement, not a finding that hypnosis is ineffective.

The Victorian Government’s Better Health Channel lists “A drug or alcohol problem” among the times “Hypnosis should be avoided”. That is why the two recordings here are offered only for cutting back, to people well short of dependence.

Who is this wrong for?

If any of these is you, start with the phone number at the top of this page rather than a recording. For everyone else, the ordinary rule applies: never listen while driving, or anywhere else that needs your attention.

• Anyone who drinks heavily every day. Stopping needs a GP.
• Anyone who has had shakes, sweats, confusion or a seizure on a day without alcohol.
• Anyone with severe depression or psychosis, where Better Health advises against hypnosis altogether.
• Anyone hoping a recording will stand in for the hotline, a GP or a meeting.
• Anyone whose drinking and betting travel together: the gambling page has its own free helpline.

Common questions

Where these numbers come from

• Turner AP, Edwards KA, Jensen MP, et al. Effects of hypnosis, mindfulness meditation, and education for chronic pain on substance use in veterans: a supplementary analysis of a randomized clinical trial. Rehabil Psychol. 2023;68(3):261-70. doi:10.1037/rep0000507
• Pekala RJ, Maurer R, Kumar VK, et al. Self-hypnosis relapse prevention training with chronic drug/alcohol users: effects on self-esteem, affect, and relapse. Am J Clin Hypn. 2004;46(4):281-97. doi:10.1080/00029157.2004.10403613
• Shestopal I, Bramness JG. Effect of hypnotherapy in alcohol use disorder compared with motivational interviewing: a randomized controlled trial. Addict Disord Their Treat. 2019;18(3):169-75. doi:10.1097/ADT.0000000000000170
• Shestopal I, Bramness JG. Effect of hypnotherapy in alcohol use disorder compared to motivational interviewing: a randomised controlled trial. J Addict Res Ther. 2018;9(5). Earlier publication of the same trial, and the source of the results described here. doi:10.4172/2155-6105.1000368
• Jacobson NO, Silfverskiold NP. A controlled study of a hypnotic method in the treatment of alcoholism, with evaluation by objective criteria. Br J Addict Alcohol Other Drugs. 1973;68(1):25-31. doi:10.1111/j.1360-0443.1973.tb01218.x
• Edwards G. Hypnosis in treatment of alcohol addiction. Controlled trial, with analysis of factors affecting outcome. Q J Stud Alcohol. 1966;27(2):221-41. doi:10.15288/qjsa.1966.27.221
• Haber PS, Riordan BC. Guidelines for the treatment of alcohol problems: a review of the evidence. Prepared for the Australian Government Department of Health; 2021. alcoholtreatmentguidelines.com.au
• Haber PS, Riordan BC, Winter DT, et al. New Australian guidelines for the treatment of alcohol problems: an overview of recommendations. Med J Aust. 2021;215(7 Suppl):S3-S32. doi:10.5694/mja2.51254
• Kaner EF, Beyer FR, Muirhead C, et al. Effectiveness of brief alcohol interventions in primary care populations. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2018;2(2):CD004148. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD004148.pub4
• Rösner S, Hackl-Herrwerth A, Leucht S, et al. Acamprosate for alcohol dependence. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2010;(9):CD004332. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD004332.pub2
• Rösner S, Hackl-Herrwerth A, Leucht S, et al. Opioid antagonists for alcohol dependence. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2010;(12):CD001867. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD001867.pub3
• Canver BR, Gomez AE. Alcohol withdrawal syndrome. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2024 [updated 2024 Feb 14]. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
• healthdirect Australia. Alcohol dependence (alcoholism) [Internet]. Canberra: Australian Government; [cited 2026 Sep 25]. healthdirect.gov.au
• Australian Government Department of Health. National Alcohol and Other Drug Hotline [Internet]. Canberra: Australian Government; [cited 2026 Sep 25]. health.gov.au
• Turning Point. Counselling Online [Internet]. Melbourne: Turning Point; [cited 2026 Sep 25]. counsellingonline.org.au
• Better Health Channel (Victorian Government Department of Health). Hypnosis [Internet]. Melbourne: State of Victoria; [cited 2026 Sep 25]. betterhealth.vic.gov.au
• Yim TH, Derbyshire SWG. A systematic review of hypnosis for clinical pain relief. Eur J Pain. 2026;30(8):e70369. doi:10.1002/ejp.70369
• Montgomery GH, David D, Winkel G, Silverstein JH, Bovbjerg DH. The effectiveness of adjunctive hypnosis with surgical patients: a meta-analysis. Anesth Analg. 2002;94(6):1639-45. doi:10.1097/00000539-200206000-00052

Related

• Does hypnosis work?The whole cluster, and where the evidence for hypnosis is strongest.
• Hypnosis for quitting smokingThe same pattern, with a Cochrane review behind it and a free line that works better.
• Hypnosis for gamblingThe one controlled study, the free helpline, and what BetStop does and doesn’t cover.
• What hypnotherapy costs in AustraliaWhat a person costs, if you are weighing one over a recording.

Ernest McLeod — clinical hypnotherapist. An Adelaide practice, seeing clients across Australia by video. Fourteen years in practice.

• ICHP
• FELLOW, ASCH
• IICT MEMBER

Hypnotherapy is not a registered profession in Australia, so I am not AHPRA-registered and I am not a psychologist. Those three are the bodies I do answer to.

I also train other hypnotherapists. My smoking, gambling and vaping cessation courses have been reviewed by the Australian Hypnotherapists’ Association and approved for CPD points.

Most of my work on this page was choosing what to include. Both recordings here are for cutting back, for people well short of dependence. More →

Whatever you decide about a recording, one free step this week is worth taking: count seven days in standard drinks, and if the number surprises you, ring 1800 250 015 or book a GP with it in your hand.

Results vary from person to person, and hypnosis does not replace medical care or treatment. These are self-help audio sessions, not medical treatment, a diagnosis, or a substitute for professional care. No therapeutic outcome is claimed for any session sold on this site, and none is offered for alcohol dependence. If you drink heavily every day, do not stop suddenly without medical advice: withdrawal can be life threatening. National Alcohol and Other Drug Hotline: 1800 250 015. Better Health Channel advises avoiding hypnosis with severe depression, psychosis, or a drug or alcohol problem. Never listen while driving or operating machinery.

Written by Ernest McLeod — clinical hypnotherapist, Adelaide, seeing clients Australia-wide by video. Last updated 25 September 2026.