Quitting smoking is one of the most valuable steps you can take for your health, but it’s also one of the most challenging. You probably want to reduce your risk of disease and premature death, have higher energy levels, save money, find it easier to exercise and have more youthful skin.
Many smokers explore various methods, including hypnotherapy, to help break free from nicotine addiction. While the science behind hypnosis is still emerging, this technique may offer valuable psychological support during the quitting process.
How Can Hypnosis Help with Smoking Cessation?
Change Your Mindset
Hypnotherapy can help reshape your perspective on smoking. By guiding you into a deeply relaxed state, a hypnotherapist provides suggestions that help you confront the risks and danger of smoking and reduce its perceived appeal.
Break The Habit
Smoking is often linked to routines and thought patterns, such as using cigarettes to manage stress. Hypnotherapy helps disrupt these habits, encouraging alternative coping mechanisms and reducing automatic smoking triggers.
Supporting Long-Term Quit Efforts
Hypnotherapy doesn’t end when the session does. Many clients learn self-hypnosis techniques, using specific words or phrases to reinforce their commitment and resist urges to smoke over time. The relaxation achieved during hypnosis may alleviate some symptoms of nicotine withdrawal, making the quitting process less daunting.
What is the latest research on hypnotherapy for stopping smoking?
Scientific studies into stop smoking hypnosis are promising but not yet conclusive. Here’s what we do know:
A 2014 randomised controlled trial of 164 smokers with severe lung illnesses found that those who received hypnotherapy were more likely to remain non-smokers at 3 and 6 months post-hospitalisation compared to those using nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) or a combination of both.
A 2012 meta-analysis suggested hypnotherapy may help smokers quit, but it called for more research to determine how it compares to other methods.
A 2019 meta-study of 14 studies concluded that hypnotherapy was as effective as behavioural interventions for quitting smoking.
While not yet as conclusive as we’d like, these findings are very encouraging. In general, researching hypnosis presents several challenges, primarily due to its subjective nature, the variability in techniques, and the difficulty of creating standardised conditions. Hypnosis also relies on individual responsiveness, which varies widely. Not everyone is equally suggestible or experiences hypnosis in the same way, making it hard to standardise outcomes. Measuring subjective phenomena like relaxation, focus, or changes in mindset is inherently difficult. The important question is: will it work for you?
The Costs of Smoking Versus Hypnotherapy
Smoking is not only harmful to your health but also your wallet. In the UK, the average smoker gets through 12 cigarettes per day which means they spend about £2,450/year. The smoker who works through a pack a day spends £4,083/year. Over a decade, that could be £40,000 spent on cigarettes!
In comparison, many people find one session of smoking cessation hypnotherapy effective. With me that costs just £345 which includes careful history-taking to ensure my approach is completely personalised to you, up to two hours of hypnotherapy in one single session, a recording of the hypnotherapy for you to listen to whenever you like and a further session if it is needed for reinforcement.
Key Benefits of Hypnotherapy for Smoking
One of the key benefits of hypnotherapy is its personalised approach. Every smoker’s journey is unique, and hypnotherapy tailors the experience to your specific motivations and challenges. Whether you smoke to relieve stress, out of habit, or due to social triggers, hypnotherapy addresses these underlying factors. It is a safe, affordable and flexible tool to help you give up.
Take the First Step
So, can hypnotherapy help you quit smoking? Yes! Book a consultation today and take the first step toward a smoke-free future.
References
Faysal M. Hasan, Sofija E. Zagarins, Karen M. Pischke, Shamila Saiyed, Ann Marie Bettencourt, Laura Beal, Diane Macys, Sanjay Aurora, Nancy McCleary. “Hypnotherapy is more effective than nicotine replacement therapy for smoking cessation: Results of a randomized controlled trial”, Complementary Therapies in Medicine, Volume 22, Issue 1, 2014.
Mehdi Tahiri, Salvatore Mottillo, Lawrence Joseph, Louise Pilo.e, Mark J. Eisenberg. “Alternative Smoking Cessation Aids: A Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials”,
The American Journal of Medicine, Volume 125, Issue 6, 2012.
Barnes J, McRobbie H, Dong CY, Walker N, Hartmann-Boyce J. “Hypnotherapy for smoking cessation”, Cochrane Database Syst Rev. June 14, 2019.
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