Stop Smoking With Hypnosis July 13, 2008
Posted by Peter O'Dell in Uncategorized.Tags: Habit Control, Hypnosis Stop Smoking, Non-Smoker, Quit Smoking, Stop Smoking
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I worked with a stop smoking client today. It is almost always fascinating to work with these guys and gals. I cannot think of a clearer example that proves that the subconscious is running the show. No one would still be smoking if it were simply a matter of making a logical decision. <http://www.success-is-easy.com/ofcsmoking.html>
Smoking kills you before your time. Remember a couple of years back when some idiot researcher announced that smoking prevented Alzheimers Disease. Turns out the researcher was right, smokers die before they get old enough to get Alzheimers.
And the drug companies have made a fortune selling the patch, gum and whatever other stupid “delivery system” for nicotine that they can come up with. Like nicotine is the problem? Nicotine is a water-soluble insecticide (poison) that washes out of your body in a couple of days. I’ve been dealing with smokers for over three decades now. The only people that I have ever seen who really seemed to have a chemical dependence on the stuff were junkies. The junkie has his/her body so screwed up that there probably is some sort of chemical dependence. For a normal person, it is poison. The body is smart enough to want to get rid of it as soon as possible.
But there is an addiction! It is just not primarily chemical in nature. For normal people (non junkies), it is almost always a psychological/social addiction. At a crucial time in their life, the cigarette becomes the symbol of their identity as an adult. This can be complicated by having emotionally charged memories that sort of orbit around the smoking, too.
My client today had some of that going on. Even after working with his self esteem and identity issues (parts), he was not ready to stop. Then he told me about a pattern in is life of getting caught in some embarrassing situations. So, we stopped the work on stop smoking for a few minutes. In 10 minutes or so, we wiped out the emotion on that whole long chain of embarrassing events. I use the eye movement emotion eraser (See “Why Direct Suggestions Fail” at <http://www.success-is-easy.com/free_downloads.htm>).
But once those emotions were wiped out, the identity part no longer wanted him to smoke. At that point he was ready to Quit Smoking. The rest of the session zipped by. He loved the deep trance session and responded wonderfully.
There really are only three issues that have to be addressed for a successful Stop Smoking session: 1)The habit (far, far easier than you’ve been led to believe). 2)The meaning of the behavior to you now. 3)Identity issues when you started.
The hypnotist that just throws a client into a deep trance and gives him some direct suggestions to Quit Smoking is doing everyone a disservice. It will only work (over the long haul) on about 10% of the clients. Same is true for the NLPer who thinks he can do it with a Swish Pattern. That usually lasts no more than 6 weeks.
So, take the time and do it right. Help the client take the mental garbage out. He will thank you for the extra years of life and for the peace of mind you give him.
Self hypnosis seems to work for me especially when used with binaural beat music. When used together it seems to be more effective than using one or the other. Some people need professional help. Everyone is different and should persevere as being a non smoker is afterall the goal.
Binaural beats are extremely powerful for inducing trance states–assuming they are set in the proper range. Are you generating them with a computer, or do you have a Light/Sound machine?
I am a firm believer that most people could “fix” themselves about as well as they can getting help. But it takes a kind of self discipline that many seem to lack. So, I applaud you and your self hypnosis efforts. But for those others who do not have your skills, getting help is going to make it a lot easier.
Peter
Mr. Odell,
I am an addictions counselor and newly certified hypnotist. The reason I am writing is that I am working with some clients that want to stop smoking. One of the clients does very well until she gets to the 3rd day of quitting and she falls to pieces. There are several emotional issues she has identified such as feeling deprived and loss of her identity. I read your article on stopping smoking and would like some information on the eye movement emotion eraser method. I tried following the web address in the article but it was not available. Any help in this area would help my client greatly.
Thank you,
Larry Akers CBT MET CH
Hi Larry,
The link worked for me. There is a whole page of downloads. The one you want is “When Direct Suggestions Fail.” It is about an hour run time.
Things may be different for you. I do not work with addicts–a choice on my part, because I do not understand the games they play.
My experience with normal smokers is that tobacco is anything but a “substance abuse problem” for non-addicts. Never mind that the tobacco companies and big Pharm have a vested interest in convincing the public of the opposite. The addiction is at a psychological/social level, not a substance level.
That said, I am not so sure it holds true for people who do already have a real substance abuse problem. What little I have worked with those folk suggests to me that they are doing something very different from normal smokers.
Good luck with your work.
Peter
Mr. Odell,
I finally was able to listen “When Direct Suggestion Fail”. It must have been the security settings on my company’s computer. I was able to listen to it on my home computer.
Thanks for your feedback.