Stop smoking Hypnotherapy

Hypnotherapy for quitting smoking

So are you ready to commit becoming a non- smoker?

As a Clinical Hypnotherapist and Psychotherapist that is now a non-smoker, I’m passionate about helping people to quit their addiction to nicotine. For over two decades I was stuck in the miserable cycle of stopping, starting and cutting down which seemed like going in and out of a revolving door. 

In 2019 I used Solution Focused Hypnotherapy and became a non-smoker. For me, hypnotherapy removed the fear and pain of going cold turkey, I just wish I found it sooner. I’m still a non-smoker and what else can I say apart from….. to this day it still continues to feel great!

If you are ready to become a non- smoker, have a look at these questions:

• Have you tried to stop smoking before?
• Are you doing this for yourself or just because someone else wants you to?
• Would you like to break free from this ball and chain?
• Are you tired of the endless stop start cycle?
• Would you like to benefit from an improved immune system?

The NHS page on smoking related ill health, estimates that in 2019/2020,

35% of all deaths for respiratory diseases along with 25% of all deaths for cancers were estimated to be attributable to smoking. 

So why do we still do it, despite it being one of the biggest causes of fatal illness in the UK?

There are certain parts of our brain that do not like change and lock us into a belief that we need it and a fear of how awful we will feel without it.

This belief then makes us think that we need it because it will make us feel better, help us to relax, feel less stressed and that it’s really hard to give up.

In reality these beliefs are false and smoking does the opposite because, it can make us feel more stressed, anxious or even depressed, and giving up can be easy. 

Breaking free from smoking is a game changer, which creates a positive momentum for gaining control over other areas of your life. 

Clients remark on enjoying higher energy levels, a calmer and more positive mood, an improved sense of taste and smell, healthier teeth and clearer, brighter looking skin.

Hospital and neuroscientific research

Research shows the effectiveness of hypnotherapy as a quit smoking option

For smoking- cessation the efficacy of pharmacotherapy is well documented. However, due to the relapse rates and side effects of pharmacotherapy, hypnotherapy continues to gain interest among smokers considering alternative treatment options.

Hasan et al, (2014) conducted a study to compare the effectiveness of hypnotherapy with nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) in patients hospitalised with cardiac or pulmonary illness. The results were as follows:

“Hypnotherapy patients were more likely than NRT patients to be non -smokers at 12 weeks and 26 weeks after hospitalisation”.

The study concluded that:

“hypnotherapy is more effective than NRT in improving abstinence in patients hospitalised for a smoking related illness and could be an asset to post discharge smoking cessation programs”.

Li et al, in (2017) conducted a neuroscientific study to investigate what is happening in the during hypnosis treatment for nicotine addiction. 

*Electroencephalogram (EEG) is a recording of brain activity. An EEG can be used to help diagnose and monitor a number of conditions affecting the brain (NHS).

The EEG brain measured brain activity while it was in the state of 

Hypnotic induction. The EEG results found that after the hypnotic induction, there was a reduction in the brain activity responsible for cigarette craving. 

In (2019) a further study conducted by Li et al again using an EEG, found a top down regulation from the human brain’s pre- frontal cortex to the insula via hypnotic suggestion had resulted in a reduction in smoking craving. 

The 2017 and 2019 neurobiological evidence from the EEG results showed that hypnotherapy reduced smoking craving by both hypnotic induction and suggestion.