Defining addiction can be a tricky business. After all, we all have addictions that we allow to go unnoticed. Plenty of people are addicted to coffee, falling in love, sugar and other random things that we have just accepted as part of life.

We seem to have accepted too, that a glass of wine after a day’s work is perfectly alright too. Maybe for some that is two or three glasses, for others it’s a bottle.

So at what point is that habit a problem? At what stage of regular drinking do you have a drinking problem? When does the label "alcoholic" apply?

For some, being an alcoholic means being drunk, almost daily, at unreasonable times of the day. But drinking a bottle of wine or two on a weekday evening is just the done thing. It has no bearing on alcoholism. Could they stop if they wanted to? Possibly, but perhaps only if there was a shake up of their circumstance that changed their drinking routine.

So what are you if you are not a drunk-all-day-every-day alcoholic but you are a habitual drinker and it’s got a little out of hand?

You are an addict. At our hypnotherapy and NLP Clinic in Hertfordshire we help people with all kinds of addiction to regain control.

Unless you can make a conscious decision to not drink any alcohol that day and stick to it, then you are addicted. If it would cause you problems, distress or discomfort to go without it, you are addicted and it’s important to break that cycle. Hypnotherapy works with the unconscious part of your mind which is much more powerful than the conscious and to to achieve success in breaking a habit or addiction, you need to have agreement in both parts of your mind.

Not only is alcohol damaging to your body when you have large quantities over long periods, but after a time the effects start to wear off, and you need more to get the same level of relaxation or whatever other escapism it allowed you to have.

In preparing to stop drinking, it’s important from a dependancy perspective that you wean yourself off gradually rather than stopping altogether one day. People who participate in "Dry January" after a spell of drinking through the festive season often have some uncomfortable side effects because they are experiencing a come down too rapidly. It’s better to formulate a plan of phasing the alcohol out of your life gradually and in a realistic way than to knock it on the head overnight.

Think about what would happen when you give it up. It’s like that you will sleep better, be sharper and brighter throughout the day and save your liver and kidneys in the future.

Then consider what would happen if you didn’t give it up. What the day to day implications would be and the long term effects on your health.

Go back to the positive results of having achieved it and notice how much better that feels.

If you feel that you are influenced, either by your own tendency to sabotage your efforts, or by others who will continue drinking, you may benefit from some help in stopping drinking alcohol. Hypnotherapy is both safe and effective for those who wish to stop drinking, whether you are an alcoholic or just have un unhealthy relationship with it.

By Gemma Bailey