'I'm so proud of my life now'

Sophie Proctor had crippling social anxiety for decades, relying on alcohol and medication to cope - then she found just five hours with a hypnotherapist transformed her mental health

- INTERVIEW BY CAROL DRIVER

For years Sophie Proctor found socialising so stressful she drank to give her Dutch courage and to become more confident.

Instead, she would experience blackouts and crippling morning-after "hangxiety" that made mental health struggles debilitating".

Even talking therapy failed to break this cycle. "I am a very anxious person especially meeting new people, or even just around large groups of people, so I used alcohol as a crutch," says Sophie, 29, who works in marketing.

"I thought if I had a glass of wine, I'd be more bubbly, more confident, and then I'd enjoy myself more.

"Actually, what it was doing was bringing up all of these dark, unresolved feelings and traumatic events, and causing me to perceive things which weren't there. Or these memories would pop up out of nowhere, and I would get incredibly emotional, start crying, or just feel the situation wasn't safe."

This damaging relationship with alcohol has its roots in her time at the University of Liverpool where she felt that she needed booze to be liked and accepted.

"In 2017, in my final year of university I went to the doctor and was prescribed anti-anxiety medication because it was so bad. It was a combination of exams and stress, and drinking more alcohol than I usually would."