What is hypnosis - could that work for me?

Most of us have seen the ad in the back of the paper, “You too can stop smoking in just 10 minutes For only $45.95!” A world-renowned master hypnotist will remove all of your cravings and after you spend half an hour and a couple of hundred dollars, at a local convention center, you will walk out of the building a nonsmoker forever. Sound too good to be true?

 

Hypnotherapy has come a long way and it is considered a viable treatment option in smoking cessation. I have seen it work for two people, which have now been smoking free for seven years. I, on the other hand, lasted 7 minutes and smoked a cigarette, as I was reading the information that I brought home with me after I left the convention center.

 

A hypnotherapy session has to be able to work at changing the behaviors of smoking, and a client needs to be in the right frame of mind to change for Hypnosis to work. Smoking is no different you still have to mentally prepare prior to making a commitment to quit. Finding a hypnotherapist that specializes specifically with smoking cessation probably would have made a big difference in my experience.

 

Top this to the fact, that I was sitting in a room full of 30 people; it wasn’t personalized to my individual patterns and needs. And there is no follow-up support outside of the overpriced cassette tape that you are expected to buy. It’s easy to see why I should have spent more time researching prior to handing over my $45.95.

 

The sessions that my two acquaintances, went to were very different and the session cost about as much as other smoking cessation products. They were individual sessions, lasting about an hour and it included a tape that they were told to listen to nightly or more often if necessary. As mentioned before this tape was their support system. They do have the option of coming for another session, which is included in the price, but neither of them said they needed it.

 

Basically, their therapist sat down with them and looked at their smoking patterns. They also talked about the times that they seem to smoke more or less, as well as discuss what they felt were potential triggers they would have difficulty overcoming. The hypnosis session was based on this information and individualized for their needs. Both of them walked out of that office and haven’t touched the cigarettes since that day.

 

One of the drawbacks with hypnotherapy is a lack of continued support. If this were the option that you are choosing, it would be a good idea to look into some of the free online support groups. Even though you will probably receive a CD or cassette tape, that you will be instructed to listen to nightly, finding a good online support system or a local smoking cessation meeting, could help supplement the nightly self-hypnosis tape.

 

Some people find that the use of hypnotherapy along with another type of smoking cessation method, such as natural remedies, has been very successful. But when you are quitting smoking, it boils down to you being ready, once and for all, to break free, no matter what method to choose or what supplements you decide to take. Taking the time to explore all of the different types of treatment options and then basing a decision on which one to use because of that research, puts you one step closer to a whole new lifestyle.