Smoking Cessation Hypnosis
There are tons of choices out there for smoking cessation. Hypnosis is one of them and it works very well for those who don’t want to use drugs or nicotine replacement. Smoking cessation hypnosis is a non-pharmacological approach to the habit of smoking cigarettes or using some other kind of tobacco. It addresses the addiction to the drug called nicotine as well as the behaviors that are associated with the use of tobacco products.
Smoking cessation hypnosis is generally done by a hypnotherapist although some people can use a CD to do much the same thing. The hypnotherapist works to get you into a deeply relaxed state through visualization or through counting backwards from ten or a hundred. When you are relaxed and calm, the therapist gives you statements like “I don’t need cigarettes anymore” or “I can live my life without cigarettes”.
When doing smoking cessation hypnosis, there are several layers of the disorder that need to be addressed, often over several sessions. The person may need to work on the addiction to nicotine itself and may have to hear things from the therapist like “I can fight my addiction to nicotine” or “I will feel better off of the nicotine”. This helps directly with the nicotine addiction the person may inevitably feel.
In smoking cessation hypnosis, some of the behaviors need to be addressed. The hypnotherapist will bring you to a deep and relaxed state and talk to you about times when smoking is triggered. He or she may then have you repeat, “I don’t need to smoke after dinner”, “I won’t feel the urge to smoke during my work break” or “I won’t smoke even when I see someone else smoking.” Because you are in such a relaxed state, you are more susceptible to taking in such phrases into your psyche and the deepest areas of your thinking or your brain.
Because smoking cessation has many different layers, it often takes several visits to get through the cessation process, as previously mentioned. There are a few people who get through the process in just one smoking cessation hypnosis session. Others need more than one session in order to handle all of the aspects of the smoking cessation issue.
Smoking cessation hypnosis has a high rate of success, especially when the individual is very motivated to quit smoking. They often begin with the therapist, talking about the behaviors that trigger smoking and learn to cope without smoking behaviors. Next they focus on the nicotine addiction and the therapist helps them take the edge off the feelings of addiction. Finally, they focus on seeing the person as an ex-smoker and coping with the long term triggers associated with going back or reverting to smoking again.
Smoking cessation hypnosis seems to work just as well for long term smokers as it does with smokers who haven’t smoked for long but who see themselves as addicted to nicotine. In the end it is the nicotine addiction that is being addressed in a non-pharmacological way.
