Love it, hate it or somewhere in between- most smokers are hooked regardless. We all know that smoking is bad for us – between health, social and monetary reasons, there’s certainly more negatives to puffing away than not. While it’s estimated that 80% of smokers would be happy to never light one up again, it’s not as simple as that.
While kicking the nicotine addiction is a physical manoeuvre, with withdrawal lasting a few weeks, the mental addiction grips harder. Smoking addictions are rooted deep inside the subconscious and are triggered by habits and routines. Meal time? Cigarette. Stress? Cigarette. Driving to town? Cigarette. To quit smoking, something needs to budge – and it’s not the addiction that’s going to do the moving.
Hypnosis to Stop Smoking
That’s why hoards of smokers are turning to hypnotherapy to stop smoking and to kick the habit. Many view hypnotherapy as a method that helps dampen or quieten the subconscious voices that plague thoughts and encourage smoking. It’s also known to help reframe subconscious thoughts on smoking and form a more negative opinion towards them.
But does using hypnotherapy to help kick smoking really work? The answer is mixed – for some smokers it works wonders, and for others it’s nothing but smoke and mirrors. Studies show varying results, but one review of 59 different trials found that hypnosis is better than no support at all.
Experiencing a craving is your mind’s way of encouraging you to act a certain way – and hypnotherapy aims to change that very route. It taps into the subconscious mind by placing you in a state of deep-focus and relaxation. During this state, new patterns, skills and mindsets can be forged to help the cessation of smoking.
How the Hypnotherapy Session Works
During a session of hypnotherapy for the aim of quitting smoking, patients are usually asked to imagine negative or unpleasant outcomes from their habit. The hypnotherapist might tell the patient that smoking leaves you feeling lethargic, which may lead to the patient’s body feeling heavy and exhausted. Through this, the patient is likely to pair their habit to the negative experience suggested within their hypnotherapy session, and lean on this very idea in the future while curbing their cravings for a cigarette.
While under the influence of hypnosis, our minds are detached from the critical, validating state that constantly encourages us to indulge in negative behaviours. Despite hypnotherapy working in different ways for every individual, the one factor that remains is the fact that it’s a helping hand, not the only force. In order to take the impact further, there are a number of things a patient can do to improve the outcome of their hypnotherapy sessions. For example, it’s important to be positive and accept what happens. As the key components of hypnotherapy stem from acceptance, any hesitancy will alter the impacts. It’s vital to make a conscious decision to choose to take as much as you can from hypnotherapy.
The impacts hypnosis has on the cessation of smoking varies, but there’s one thing that remains true: it helps people to focus on their own internal resources and coping mechanisms to boycott cigarettes. So whether it helps you kick the habit or not, it’s bound to arm you with the mindset to start.
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