Smoking will probably be banned in all pubs,
clubs and workplaces in the whole of the United Kingdom from summer 2007. It
could still be banned at outdoor locations that are ‘substantially enclosed’
such as football grounds and railway platforms. It is believed that an extra
600,000 smokers will give up over ten years as a result of this ban. The
Irish Government hails their smoking ban as a success that is already bringing
health benefits to bar workers and creating a more pleasant atmosphere in
which to socialise.
Throughout the UK thousands of people's lives
are severely damaged every year as a result of smoking and this impacts on
their health, relationships, family life, work and finances. This is therefore
yet another powerful incentive for stopping smoking.
So what has been preventing people until now?
Personal health issues don’t stop many people, the smell doesn’t stop them,
and the cost doesn’t stop them. Yet, why not?
I would suggest that it’s fear and fatigue.
Fear of failure. Tired of trying. You know the story: they’ve tried so many
times before using willpower, patches, maybe Zyban, even acupuncture, and
nothing has worked for very long. So they’ve accepted that they are unable to
stop.
Then clients come to hypnotherapy, often as a
last resort. They may know someone who was stopped using this method. And
provided that they really want to stop then this method can reach the parts
that all those other methods just couldn’t reach. The majority of clients stop
and stay stopped (see success rate chart). Why? Because smoking is a mental
habit. It’s a deeply ingrained habit which has been reinforced several
times a day for years, even decades. It’s like an old record that has got
stuck. ‘I need a cigarette, I’ve got to have a cigarette.’
New Scientist
magazine (vol 136 issue 1845) reported the largest ever scientific comparison
of ways of stopping smoking. Of all of the different methods analyzed the
survey found Hypnotherapy to be the most effective, being five times more
effective than will power alone, and three times more effective than nicotine
gum:
. . . "Most
techniques turned out to be hopeless. Hypnosis, however, came out as the most
effective anti-smoking technique" "
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Let me explain a
little about hypnosis
Hypnosis is
increased relaxation and concentration. We take negative habits and
replace them with positive habits. We all go into hypnosis everyday – when
you drive your car, when you daydream, whilst listening to music, watching
a film – when you’re on automatic pilot, its known as environmental
hypnosis.
Now let me explain
the connection with our conscious and unconscious minds. In the conscious
mind is our awareness, our logic and reasoning, our short term memory. Yet
this part is only about 10% of our mind and can only process about five or
six pieces of information a second.
On the other hand
our unconscious mind can process over 2 million bits of information a
second. This is the part which is on auto-pilot and runs our life for us.
It’s been building habits for us perfectly since the day we were born.
Everything we do is an unconscious habit. The way we brush out teeth, the
way we put our shoes on, drive a car, even breathing. We don’t have to
think about because the autonomic nervous system is run by our unconscious
mind and does it for us.
However when we
were learning to drive we had to think of so many things – looking in the
mirror, how and when to change gear, signalling. It was a complete
overload for the tiny conscious mind until, by repetition, it downloaded
the information to the powerful unconscious mind and those things all
became, over a period of time, automatic habitual behaviours. It is the
same with smoking. It is a learned experience which by repetition becomes
an unconscious habit.
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So how do we do it?
Hypnotherapy removes the desire for smoking,
replacing that ‘record’ with one which will serve them better: ‘I am now a
non-smoker and I’ll be a non-smoker for the rest of my life.’
Most people stop smoking after one session
with a few usually stopping after a backup session or telephone support.
During the session we replace the old
‘negative’ habit with a new ‘positive’ mental attitude. This ensures that the
client leaves, not only as a non-smoker, but with a more positive focus which
will serve them better, with a much healthier approach to life. For example,
many choose to drink more water, eat more fruit, salads and vegetables, others
to exercise more.
Whilst the majority of people stop smoking
after just one session, many hypnotherapists like myself provide full back up
support for up to a year following the appointment.
Ultimately the facts speak for themselves: We
have got a year to turn over half a million smokers into non smokers. We can
do if we work together and utilise the most effective methods of helping
people break their smoking habit, and hypnotherapy is the most effective
statistically proven method.
To link directly to this article use this
link:
http://www.hypnotherapyarticles.com/ArtG/articleg00006.htm
Diana Powley is a leading Neuro-Linguistic
Programming Hypnotherapist. She is founder of Habitbreakers, a UK-wide
organisation of professional NLP Hypnotherapists specialising in smoking
cessation, weight management, fears, phobias and other negative habits -
www.dunehypnotherapy.co.uk
