Hypnotherapy to stop smoking: a few tips!

Professional advice for any smoker thinking of trying hypnotherapy to stop smoking. Handy tips to maximise your chances of immediate success.

by Chris Holmes

As more smokers become aware that Champix (or Chantix in the U.S.) is not so much a ‘Wonder Drug’ as a ‘Wonder If I’ll Just Get The Nausea, Or If I’ll Have A Complete Personality Change, Murder My Family And Then String Myself Up In The Garage’ sort of a drug, some of them are bound to also wonder if there are ways of quitting smoking that don’t involve gambling with your life.

There certainly are.  Not only that, they have proven to work better than any of the medications in the long run anyway (i.e. at the twelve month follow-up stage, by which time over 80% of Champix users are smoking again.)

Hypnotherapy, the Allen Carr method (which functions as a form of hypnotherapy anyway) and acupuncture all have proven hit-rates that beat the meds.  I have no connection with the last two, as I am a professional hypnotherapist specialising in smoking, alcohol, gambling and drug habits for over a decade… but I recommend them anyway because they have a proven track-record and they are SAFE.  In a moment I will provide some handy tips for anyone considering hypnotherapy.

Acupuncture: The key with this method seems to be to find an experienced practitioner who has worked with the smoking issue a lot.  I don’t pretend to know HOW it works, but it definitely works for some – and as it cannot damage you or make you go crazy it is well worth a shot if you haven’t tried it.  Surely it makes no sense to try any method that involves risk unless you have already tried all the ones that do not.

Allen Carr: He is no longer with us but his books are.  So are the group-therapy franchises that grew out of his own private sessions as a ‘therapist’.  In truth Carr set himself up as a smoking cessation therapist with no formal training of any kind, and one of his successes claimed that “he BORED me into quitting!”  This maybe reflects Carr’s tenacity and unshakeable belief in his own method, plus his tendency to go on a bit!  The group therapy sessions are four to five hours in length, ending with about 15 minutes of “hypnotherapy” from practitioners who are not really hypnotherapists.  The cost was around £250 last time I looked, which was a few years ago.  My advice is to read Carr’s original book first, the one that made him famous.  He self-published it originally, then it went on to sell millions of copies. It’s about six quid, and it’s called “Allen Carr’s Easy Way to Stop Smoking.”

Hypnotherapy:

1) If you have a bad attitude, you’re angry with the world or suspicious by nature and think everyone is out to cheat you, DO NOT ring a hypnotherapist.  You will not respond positively and then you’ll convince yourself it’s THEIR fault!  You COULD start by having therapy to fix your emotional issues, and then succeed normally with the smoking.  That would work, and it would also make you happier.  But it wouldn’t work the other way around.

2) For everyone else, hypnotherapy is the ideal way to ditch the habit effortlessly and with no weight-gain.

3) If the therapist is quoting fees that go over £200, find a different therapist UNLESS: you are rich and famous and/or the practice is located in Harley Street or whatever the equivalent of that is in your country.  (Where all the private doctors who “specialise in diseases of the rich”, as Tom Lehrer put it, have their offices.)

4) Some hypnotherapists will usually aim to do smoking cessation in one session, as I do.  Some don’t, and that’s okay as long as the overall cost of stopping smoking stays within that £100-£200 range.  Do not assume that if you pay top dollar you get the best therapist.  You just get the best-dressed therapist, with a Rolex.  Their overall success-rate won’t be any different to anyone else’s.

5) Your therapist should explain to you, in advance, that hypnotherapy is nothing like the experience you expect it to be.  Most clients are expecting to be asleep, or “away with the fairies” or something.  In fact, you feel perfectly normal.  You don’t “feel hypnotised” at all.  This is important to know in advance, otherwise the client may assume “it’s not working” which can affect their MOOD and therefore the outcome.

6) The ideal mood for hypnotherapy success is LOOKING FORWARD to that success.   A mood of positive, eager anticipation.  So if anything is bothering, worrying or troubling you during the session – anything at all – TELL THE THERAPIST IMMEDIATELY.   Interrupt the proceedings, ask, raise any questions you like.  Then they can deal with it, it won’t be a problem.

7)  The more positive you are, the better the result will be.

8) The more comfortable you are with the therapist, the better the result will be.

9) The more you are looking forward to being rid of tobacco, the quicker you will be.

10)  It does seem like nothing is happening during a hypnotherapy session.  Don’t let that bother you – all hypnotherapy sessions are like that.  You only notice the results afterwards.  ALSO: It does sound as if the hypnotherapist is simply telling you things you know already.  That is because your conscious mind DOES know those things already.  Hypnotherapy is an update for the Subconscious mind – which controls all habitual behaviour – to bring it up to speed with what the conscious mind has already learned.  So I tell all my clients:

“The trance part of the session does seem a bit boring!  And we use quite a bit of repetition when we talk to the Subconscious, so not only does it sound like I’m telling you things you know already, but several times over!  But it gets the job done, and that’s all that really matters.”

It also helps to know: how much clients relax varies enormously and doesn’t matter at all, and that the only thing that really matters is how you feel about what is being said to you about tobacco.  If you are in broad agreement with it, that’s acceptance and success should be immediate.

Finally: don’t ‘test’ the results by trying a cigarette.  Hypnotherapy shuts the habit and the cravings down.  Testing it by smoking simply starts them up again.  Further hypnotherapy will shut them down again, but it is cheaper to let sleeping dogs lie.

more about hypnotherapy  

the book that blew the whistle on the nicotine scam

 

3 thoughts on “Hypnotherapy to stop smoking: a few tips!”

  1. A Quit Smoking Tip That Can Change Your Life

    A Quit Smoking Tip That Can Change Your LifeDo you want to quit smoking? There is a very powerful quit smoking tip that can literally change your life – because it would ensure your 100% success. Do you want to know what this is? Read on and find out all about it.What You Need To Quit Smoking Once For AllI read once a quip that made me smile – ‘Who says quitting smoking is difficult? I have quit it five times and there is nothing to it.’ Yes, usually this is what happens. You think you left smoking for good and the habit is behind you. Then, you just smoke once with your friends – for the sake of old times – and that is it.In your mind, this is just a one-time-smoke bit; nothing to worry about. This would be like an occasional chocolate cake slice when you diet. However, in no time, you find yourself ‘treating’ yourself on a regular basis, and supposedly out of the blue you will back smoking regularly again. You need to know and keep in mind that getting back to smoking is extremely easy. You also need to know what you would encounter when you attempt to stop smoking. The withdrawal symptoms can be very unpleasant and painful. Are you ready to tackle this problem head on? Do you know what medication can help you with the withdrawal symptoms? Do you know how long it takes to get rid of the habit? You need to have nerves of steel and a high level of commitment to get yourself rid of this toxic habit.The Difference Between Success And Failure – A Great Quit Smoking TipWhen you decide to quit smoking, take another decision in your mind. Decide never to smoke a cigarette that is bought with your money, and never carry a pack on you. How this quit smoking tip helps you stay off cigarettes? Read on.1. The first part of the quit smoking tip – never buy your own cigarettes means that if you smoke you would need someone to offer you one. Most people do not like to share their cigarettes on a regular basis and if you are identified as one who is out for freebies, you would very soon be a loner. 2. The second part of the quit smoking tip – never carry a pack of cigarettes with you. This means that you cannot depend on having a cigarette when you need one – behavior change – and hence, you would outgrow the dependency on it over time.For more information visit: http://www.smokedeter.com/?aid=991421

  2. Now this, of course, is an advert. Normally I wouldn’t allow it, but I’ve looked at the page and it purports to be offering a free sample of a homeopathic product which certainly shouldn’t do anyone any harm or cost any money.

    Naturally I disagree with the statement “You need to have nerves of steel and a high level of commitment to get yourself rid of this toxic habit” and the references to “withdrawal”… you just need a couple of hours to spare and a good hypnotherapist!

    Nevertheless I am allowing this, for now – if anyone encounters a problem with the offer let me know and I’ll delete the link, but I am partly allowing it because it has nothing to do with pharma products, might help some people and is free. Although I have been accused of just promoting myself or hypnotherapy, this has always been untrue: I also recommend Allen Carr’s original book, acupuncture and any other approach that cannot do harm – all these should be tried before resorting to dangerous drugs like Champix, or Nicotine Replacement Poisoning, which we now know doesn’t work any better than willpower.

  3. Chris, please leave the advert, it shows yet again how people can be fleeced by placebos altering some people’s perceptions enough to attribute success. Like an eager Christian in Church winning the lottery declaring “I gave to God and God gave to me – so you should too!”

    If, as you imply, hypnotherapy is a science, it will work 100% of the time in a responsive patient. Because you stated: “Hypnotherapy is an update for the Subconscious mind”.

    It is this method to which I’m curious, because as a therapy people usually remember their first smoke, of the emotions that got them past their initial revulsion, and became an escape from any similar form of stress and feelings of inadequacy, (which the advertising heavily worked on. Edward Bernay’s “Torches of Freedom” for women come to mind).

    Would you share your technique of ‘updating the subconscious’ or is it the ‘ego’ of: you are worth more then this, you are loved, you are special; into a narcissist that falls apart when faced with a greater authoritative truth voice-imprint of say, Allah/Kim Jong-un speaking?

    ‘updating the subconscious’. Has a special ring to it. 🙂

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