For countless smokers, giving up can prove one of the most challenging endeavours they have ever undertaken. A lot of people manage to break the habit using sheer motivation yet, for numerous others, this strategy will not be enough.
Tunbridge Wells practitioner Karen Martin said: “Long before I became a hypnotherapist, I tried every method out there to quit smoking heavily. From cold turkey to NHS recommended Nicotine Replacement Therapy patches and gum, nothing worked for me except hypnotherapy. It’s one of the reasons why I now run a busy hypnotherapy practice and will never smoke again.”
Self-discipline, used on its own, is an unreliable approach to beating addictions – it works by using the conscious mind to get over what are often complex, subconscious-based behavioural patterns.
As the driving forces from the subconscious are mostly unknown to us, this can make the self-control approach a little like throwing darts in the dark – you might be lucky, but the chances are stacked against you.
Knowing the cause of your smoking addiction can greatly boost your probabilities of stopping. For example, do you use cigarette smoking as soon as you feel under pressure, or do you simply feel you need something to keep you relaxed?
Gaining some knowledge of what drives you to do the things you do could help point you in the right direction to discover a suitable solution.
Another significant aspect in beating an addiction is being honest with yourself. If you’ve repeatedly attempted to quit smoking without success, it could be time to admit that you need a little assistance.
Why you can quit smoking with hypnotherapy
Research has shown that hypnosis can be three times more effective for beating smoking addiction than nicotine replacement therapy alone. this is because the actual dependence on nicotine often plays a small part in the overall addiction.
To really change a person’s cigarette addiction, the subconscious patterns driving it have to be dealt with.This is how hypnotherapy can be so effective.
After being guided into a profoundly relaxed state by the hypnotherapist, a smoker is then ready to accept the influence of constructive suggestion. The hypnotherapist uses this opportunity to construct new thought patterns inside the mind about smoking.
For example, the hypnotherapist may convince the smoker that the next time they inhale a cigarette, it could make their mouth feel uncomfortably dry, or that cigarette smoke smells revolting, like a car exhaust.
Although the subject is awake during the hypnosis session, the subconscious has been involved and is influenced more readily than it would be in the course of a normal conversation.
Does it really help?
People are, of course, unique, so no single treatment approach is guaranteed to work for everyone.
Yet quite a few people have found hypnosis to be an extremely positive journey, often feeling more in control of their behaviour, thoughts and feelings after a treatment.
A hypnotic approach helps quite a few people quit smoking. Although motivation on its own may not be effective, it is still the key component.
Through working together with both the conscious mind and the subconscious, your chances of quitting smoking are vastly increased, meaning greater health and a healthier purse at the end of each month.