Many people who have unsuccessfully tried other methods of giving up smoking are naturally sceptical about the effectiveness of hypnosis to stop smoking. I don’t blame you. If you’ve tried other smoking cessation approaches and still found yourself reaching for a packet of cigarettes, you will know that it’s not an easy habit to quit.
So what makes hypnosis effective, where other stop smoking methods fail? Read on to find out how this treatment works and whether it’s right for you.
How Hypnosis Stop You Smoking For Life
Hypnosis is a deep state of relaxation and focused attention, which a person goes in and out every day. This is when your subconscious mind is open to suggestions and ideas.
Health Implications Of Smoking
Everyone knows that smoking is bad for you, but if you’re smoker those warnings on the side of a cigarette packet only serve to make you feel more helpless about giving up. Let’s face it; it’s easy to not to think about the health implications when you don’t think you have the strength to quit.
During a hypnosis session, the clinical hypnotherapist will remind you that smoking can cause cancer and damage your health long-term. Suggestions and ideas can be reinforced during the session so that when you do read a health warning on a packet of cigarettes, instead of pretending it’s not there your subconscious mind will heighten your awareness and compel you to act.
Replacing The ‘Positive’ Aspects Of Smoking With Something Better
In most cases, smokers view the act of smoking as a positive influence, and this is programmed in your subconscious mind through the repetitive action of smoking.
You may feel smoking helps you:
- Relieve your anxiety and boredom
- Give you time-out from work or at home
- Relax and help you concentrate
- Feel confident when you are with friends
- Deal with some uncomfortable thoughts and emotions
- Helps you to fit in with your friends that smoke
- Be in control of your weight as you will eat if you smoke
- Keeps your hands busy
- Reduces your stress and irritability
Your subconscious mind has become programmed to believe those smoking cigarettes will help make you feel better, reduce stress and any feelings of discomfort. After smoking for many years, smoking has now become this habit that has been repeated many times, reinforcing this positive association.
Hypnosis for smoking cessation works by reprogramming your subconscious mind so that smoking is not associated with positive things. Your therapist will also teach you ways to replace the feeling that smoking creates with healthier and better alternatives, for example by teaching you how to cope with stress or learn relaxation techniques that replace your smoking habit.
When Other Smoking Cessation Methods Have Failed
Typically hypnosis to stop smoking is used as a last resort when nothing else has worked. Often the reason that these methods have failed is because they don’t address the underlying issues of why someone smokes. Such as because they associate smoking with relaxation, or they always have a cigarette when they have a coffee or glass of wine.
Some of the methods people try first are –
- Their willpower, but as they still think of themselves as smokers they force themselves to ‘stop’. If they ‘enjoy’ their cigarettes, then stopping creates a conflict within themselves which results in more stress and anxiety.
- Cutting smoking down is another way that people try to quit but your body still has nicotine. So hours or days between cigarettes does not take away the cravings and the withdrawal that you will feel. You will count the hours between cigarettes and will eventually cave in and smoke more and more.
- Nicotine patches and gum, e-cigarettes and medications do not reduce the nicotine in your body. But the habit and the cravings have not been addressed, and the reasons (emotional aspects of the smoking habit) for smoking also still exist.
With clinical hypnosis and cognitive behaviour therapy, you can change your habits and behaviours, and your unconscious mind will choose healthier options. Most of the time people smoke cigarettes because of the conditioned response to stimulation from their environment or a habit they cannot break.
Some Myths About Your Smoking Habit
And How To Overcome Them With Hypnosis And CBT
Most people believe in the stories or beliefs they tell themselves:
- Withdrawal is difficult and I can’t cope with the cravings. When you smoke you imagine the pleasure it gives you and when you give up you start to crave that pleasure and don’t want the pain and misery of quitting. During a hypnosis session, you are given tools and techniques to get perspective on the habit and ways you can avoid slipping into the addictive trance state.
- I cannot give up as I have failed before. Most people try the different methods to quit cigarettes and use hypnosis as their last port of call, but hypnosis helps them re-programme their subconscious thoughts, feelings and beliefs about their smoking habit so they then are in control of their behaviour.
- I don’t have the willpower. Your motivation and willpower to quit smoking will be enhanced during the therapy session and you will get to know the real reason why you smoke and why you want to quit. You will view your behaviour with a different perspective and awareness of the impact cigarette smoking has had on your health. You will then feel free from the cravings and realise how smoking has affected your life and use the new found freedom to believe in yourself and be a happy and healthy non-smoker.
- I’ve smoked for too long, it’s too late to give up. You realise that you cannot just stop smoking as you have been smoking for a long time. With the support and help of an experienced and accredited clinical hypnotherapist and cognitive behaviour therapist, you will come to the decision that smoking is harming your body and your subconscious will make changes that are permanent.
Sammy told her friend that her smoking habit was out of control. She was smoking 20 cigarettes a day for 35 years.
“I felt that if I had not given up smoking I would not have gotten over my chronic chest infection and breathlessness. Now I can breathe a little better and even walk up the stairs without stopping. My clothes smell nice and so does my breath. I had tried to give up smoking before but the cravings and the stress always made me smoke again. Now I feel free, it does not worry me if people smoke around me, I have started with some gentle exercise daily and I am saving the money I spent on cigarettes to go away in the summer next year. Hypnosis helped me gain clarity about where my life was and where I wanted to be. I am glad I did try clinical Hypnosis and CBT as I feel better than I ever felt before”
Find out more about using hypnosis to stop smoking here.
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