Smoking is one of the hardest habits for people to give up. What may have started as a casual curiosity with peers may have developed into a lifelong habit one can’t stay away from. There are plenty of methods to help people stop smoking, one of which is hypnotherapy. This article will break down smoking addictions and how hypnotherapy can help patients wean themselves from smoking.
Why Is It Hard to Quit Smoking?
Most smokers are unable to break this out of their systems for many reasons. One of the most common reasons people become nicotine-dependent is because of its relaxing effects. Smokers often smoke to relieve stress rather than for leisure—a habit that hypnotherapists might target. With hypnotherapy, the patient will be gradually led to the realisation that coping with stress is something the mind should be able to control.
How Hypnosis Helps Patients Quit Smoking
Helps Change Mindsets and Habits
Quitting smoking reduces the number of addictive chemicals in the system. People turn to nicotine patches, vaping, or cutting down to a stick per day. These often have mixed results and do little to address the mental dependence on smoking.
Hypnotherapy works with the mind, breaking this behaviour by adjusting thought patterns and building new habits. It gets rid of the notion that you need to smoke to relieve or control stress.
Hypnotherapists make suggestions that confront the dangers of smoking your mind may have overlooked before. These ideas are meant to replace the enjoyment of smoking. It may seem a little uncomfortable at first, but these suggestions can help you beat cravings.
Directs the Attention to Smoking’s Negative Effects
Most hypnotherapists use the Spiegel method. It focuses on three aspects: smoking is poison, the body needs to be protected from smoke, and the life of a non-smoker is one that you desire. These three suggestions can target a smoker’s impulses and help them find the inner strength to stop and increase their concentration on the treatment.
Hypnotherapists can also suggest alternative behaviours to smoking. Patients will be asked to imagine the negative side effects and disadvantages of smoking. For example, the odour, which may have been tolerable to them before, will be taught to a patient as unpleasant.
Offers Long Term Solutions
Beyond the sessions, you will be taught to eventually handle the problem on your own through self-hypnosis, a method where you can use certain phrases to prevent relapse. Many also use hypnotherapy to help the mind relax when the patient feels some withdrawal symptoms.
Conclusion
Hypnosis doesn’t exactly have the best reputation, rooted in many misconceptions. Hypnotherapy can be used for more meaningful purposes. Helping people fight the urge to smoke is one of its greatest benefits. When conducted by a professional, this bad habit can easily be manifested through the power of your own cognitive abilities.
Are you contemplating hypnotherapy to quit smoking? Contact Leeds Hypnotherapist. You can start living the life you have always wanted and deserved. Book a consultation now to help beat your smoking addiction today!
