How Hypnotherapy Can Help You Quit Smoking

The health risks associated with smoking are well documented, and there are a number of methods around to help smokers break the habit. But are there other ways to support the quitting process for those who’ve tried everything from patches to counselling? Hypnotherapy offers an effective option to quit smoking, and is well worth trying for those exploring their potential options.  It is a completely safe, drug-free and most of all natural method so you can stop smoking without any negative side-effects at all using  clinical hypnotherapy.

What is hypnosis?

Hypnosis, in the clinical setting, involves guiding the patient into a trance or altered relaxed state of awareness before giving them suggestions to quit smoking. In this trance-like state, you’re not unconscious, as you are still fully aware of what’s happening around you and in control of your faculties. Hypnosis is also frequently used to address numerous other conditions such as physical pain, weight gain, speech disorders, and addictions.

How hypnotherapy can help you quit smoking

Aligning the conscious and subconscious minds

Hypnotherapy works on the basis that you can reprogram your subconscious mind to break unwanted habits such as smoking, because the subconscious mind is in charge of your emotions, habits, and behavioural patterns. The idea is, that people who try to quit smoking fail because their conscious mind is not aligned with their subconscious mind. Through connecting with your subconscious mind, you can change habits at the subconscious level and achieve lasting changes.

Suggestions to quit smoking

Different hypnotherapists might take different approaches to assisting you with quitting. While you’re relaxed, the hypnotherapist might make certain suggestions encouraging you to dislike smoking. For example, they could suggest that cigarette smoke smells like a truck exhaust, or smoking makes your mouth dry and parched. Other hypnotherapists might suggest to you that smoking poisons the body, and that you should respect your body and protect it.

Neuro Linguistic Programming

A hypnotherapist might be able to design a behaviour modification program that involves hypnotherapy as well as other such as Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) techniques. NLP are tecniques that influence brain behaviour (the “neuro” part of the phrase) through the use of language (“linguistic”), and other types of communication to enable a person to “rewire” the way the brain responds to stimuli (that’s the “programming”) and develop new and desirable behaviours. Neuro Linguistic Programming often incorporates hypnosis and self-hypnosis to help achieve the change (or “programming”) that is desired. The program might also include processes and tools for self-hypnosis so you can continue reprogramming your subconscious after you’ve completed your one-on-one hypnotherapy sessions.

Awareness and aversion therapy

Through hypnotherapy, you can become more aware of your addiction to cigarettes or the triggers and impulses that drive you to smoke, along with how to handle your feelings without cigarettes. The program might include aversion therapy, which conditions you to link smoking with unpleasant outcomes or experiences. Hypnotherapy can also help with a range of other associated matters, such as weight management (some people smoke to curb their appetite).

Re-writing the hard drive

Many hypnotherapists often liken the process to re-writing a hard drive with a new software program. The process might start with breathing and visualization exercises to guide the patient into a trance. Then the session might focus on using statements such as ‘I am a happy permanent non-smoker’ to introduce new beliefs in your subconscious mind. A hypnotherapist might also guide the client in substituting other activities that can take place of the act of smoking.

Overcoming the psychological addiction

Inability to quit could simply be just the fact that you’ve been unable to overcome a psychological – not physical – habit. This is what hypnotherapy can help with. By dislodging this habit from your subconscious mind, you might be able to successfully remove the psychological addiction and eliminate cigarettes from your life.

Reseach on hypnotherapy to quit smoking

There’s research that indicates that hypnotherapy works best for people who truly want to quit, and can also be used with other strategies (such as patches). It is believed that if you have a strong desire to quit smoking, hypnotherapy can help you regardless of how long you’ve been smoking, and how many times you’ve tried to quit in the past. Reputable hypnotherapists can have a success rate as high as 96%. Other research shows that when done correctly, the success rate of hypnotherapy is 66%, compared with 5% for trying to quit on your own, 25% for behaviour therapy, and 25% for nicotine replacement products.

More generally, there’s no doubt that hypnotherapy can have a profoundly positive impact for a range of conditions, including quitting cigarettes, controlling pain, reducing anxiety, and managing stress and trauma. For example, research has shown that people on pain medications can be taught to use self-hypnosis to halve their pain medication and still end up experiencing half the pain of those who were simply given pain medication.

Trying hypnotherapy

Hypnotherapy is cost effective (have you ever added how much you are spending on cigarettes per year?), safe, and potentially powerful for those who really want to quit smoking. Whether used as part of a program involving other tools, or alone, hypnotherapy can make all the difference and help you quit cigarettes for good, allowing you to overcome your addiction to enjoy better health and vitality. Click here to explore effective Stop Smoking Hypnosis Programs on the Gold Coast.