Alcohol habits and binge drinking patterns
Alcohol habits often don’t look like “addiction” from the outside.
They look like drinking more than you meant to. Bingeing after stressful weeks. Promising yourself you’ll take a break — then restarting the same pattern again.
This page is for people who feel stuck in alcohol habits that repeat, even when motivation is high and consequences are clear.
Sessions: online worldwide and in person in London (Barbican & Bounds Green). I also work with young adults.
What I help with
- Binge drinking cycles (periods of control followed by loss of control)
- “Social” drinking that no longer feels social
- Drinking linked to stress, overwhelm, anger, loneliness, or reward
- Drinking as a way to switch off, calm anxiety, or manage internal pressure
- Repeated attempts to cut down or stop that don’t stick
- Alcohol habits that sit alongside other compulsive patterns
If alcohol is part of a wider pattern of compulsive habits, we work with the whole picture rather than isolating one behaviour. You can read more about that broader work on my Compulsive habits page.
The binge drinking cycle
For many people, alcohol follows a predictable loop:
Pressure or trigger → drinking → short-term relief → regret or fallout → resolve to change → pressure builds again
The relief is real — but it’s brief. And the brain learns quickly.
Over time, alcohol becomes the default way of regulating stress, emotion, or sensation. Not because of weakness, but because it works — until it doesn’t.
- Long stretches of “being fine” followed by sudden loss of control
- Strong self-criticism or shame afterwards
- Repeated fresh starts and new rules
- Avoidance of situations, people, or feelings that trigger the cycle
Note on medication changes: if you’ve been advised to reduce or stop medication, alcohol use can sometimes shift as the system adjusts. We can work with the pattern, but medication changes should stay with your GP or prescriber.
How I work with alcohol habits
This isn’t a one-off session or a detox programme. It’s therapeutic work over time, focused on changing what drives the habit underneath.
We get specific about your pattern: when it happens, what you feel in your body, what your mind predicts, what you do next, and what you get from it (even if it’s just short-term relief).
I use cognitive hypnotherapy to update automatic responses, expectations and identity-level beliefs. Breathwork can be useful too — but only in a regulating, non-forceful way — so it helps your system settle rather than ramps sensations up.
- Map your alcohol loop (triggers, urges, behaviours and pay-off)
- Work with urges and internal pressure without fighting your body
- Plan for high-risk situations (weekends, stress, social events, arguments)
- Address substitution so progress doesn’t just shift into another behaviour
- Build a relapse plan so a wobble doesn’t become a spiral
FAQs
Both. I work with binge patterns, regular drinking, and fluctuating cycles.
I’m a therapist, not a rehab or detox service. If you’re medically dependent or at risk during withdrawal, you’ll need medical input first. This work can sometimes sit alongside other support, but it doesn’t replace it.
No. 12-step programmes can be genuinely helpful for many people, but they’re not for everyone. We can work with the habit loop regardless, and you can decide what support feels right.
Yes. Including alcohol habits linked to exams, transitions, social pressure, or identity shifts.
No. We’ll look at what’s realistic, safe, and sustainable for you.
If you want to talk this through, start here:
Send an enquiry or see work with me + pricing.
If you feel at immediate risk, or you’re in crisis, contact your GP or local emergency services.