Ever since I started hypnotherapy professionally, I have had people come to me wanting to quit smoking. It seems that there are two sorts of people who smoke – some who just decide to stop and do so with apparent ease – the others struggle with cravings and soon go back to smoking all over again. It is this latter group that seek the help of a professional hypnotherapist.
Hypnotherapy is not magic. I cannot just click my fingers and make someone not want to smoke ever again. Hypnotherapy is about allowing the subconscious mind to accept that smoking is not necessary, so that it doesn’t constantly prompt you to light up.
In hypnotherapy, quitting smoking is done quickly – in one long session. This is because, if you drag it out over a few weeks, cutting down day by day or week by week, the brain spends too much time thinking about smoking. This makes it harder for the subconscious to give up the idea of smoking.
For the majority of my quit-smoking clients, this approach works very well. However, I have found two small problems that sometimes happen:
- Firstly, I occasionally get clients who call me up saying, “Do you remember you helped me quit smoking last year. Well, I didn’t even think about smoking since seeing you until a few weeks ago. I was very stressed and someone offered me a cigarette, which I took. The next day I was back smoking fifteen a day. Can I come and see you again?”
- Secondly, I sometimes get clients who call me a week or so after the quit smoking hypnotherapy session and say, “I haven’t smoked since I saw you, but I still sometimes crave a cigarette. Can you help?”
And so as part of my quit smoking hypnotherapy service, I have decided to offer a free follow-up session. This is designed to reinforce the change that will have already taken place so that clients are able to reduce and cope with any cravings (if they have any). It will also reinforce the messages of what to do in moments of weakness in the months and years to come.
There are an increasing number of people who have become addicted to vaping. Quit-smoking hypnotherapy works equally well with addictions to cigarettes or to vapes.
If you need help quitting, and you really want to quit, check out my Quit Smoking page and contact me. We can have a chat on the phone first and if you want to go ahead, I will book you in.