Hypnosis to Quit Smoking

By Chris Harrison - Posted June 2010

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Quitting smoking is one of the most common issues that hypnotherapists are approached for.

There are many reasons why you should use hypnosis to quit smoking:

Actually spending the money and seeing a therapist over a series of sessions does focus the mind and show to others (and yourself) that you are serious about quitting.
Having someone to ‘coach’ you through the process of quitting gives you someone to not let down. Strangely it is much easier to let down a partner, parent, or child, than a professional who is spending their time trying to help you.
Smoking is one issue where there may be lots of different temptations and issues that come to light during the process – a reoccurring appointment allows you to work on the new issues as they arise.
Using Hypnosis to quit smoking is a good way to uncover whether there are any specific unconscious reasons why you find it hard to quit (other than the obvious addictive properties of nicotine).

How many hypnosis sessions should I need to quit smoking?

This is a tough one. If a therapist can’t have a serious effect on your smoking after 3 or 4 sessions, they you should probably question whether they will ever help you at all.

Some NLP practitioners (see other therapies below) may suggest that you will only need a single session, and this may be enough, but even in this case, it's wise to have a follow up session to tie up any loose ends.

Just be aware that if you feel that you are not making progress with a particular therapist then it is their fault and not yours. If you need to try working with someone else, or for any reason you feel uneasy with a particular person then change - remember you are the customer.

How regular should the stop smoking hypnosis sessions be?

Most people, probably due to convenience more than anything else, would arrange one session a week. You may find that the best approach to use hypnosis to quit smoking is to have a couple of sessions to get going, and then as you become more in control, spread them out until you don’t need the help any more.

When I use hypnosis to quit smoking, should I expect to stop smoking straight away?

While some approaches to smoking cessation involve planning to quit, there is very little sense in it. After all, one cigarette is going to be your last, why not the one you just had?

What kind of things will a hypnotist do to help me stop smoking?

The main aim of a hypnotists work will be to prevent you from wanting a cigarette and preventing all the little triggers that you usually associate with smoking from giving you the urge. Depending upon how they work, they may make cigarettes completely abhorrent to you, but usually they will check if this is an appropriate method to use with you first. They may also work on motivating to be more healthy, which will ensure that mentally you don’t want to smoke.

Aside from using hypnosis to quit smoking, what other therapies could help me stop smoking?

Somewhat related to hypnosis, NLP (Neuro-linguistic Programming) provides some very good tools to quit smoking.

If you want to take control of your own smoking habit, then there is an article How do I use NLP to quit smoking on PlanetNLP.com that provides some exercises that will help to make the quitting process easier for you.

If you can find a therapist with both hypnosis and NLP skills then you can get the best of both worlds as you will have found someone who has a bigger toolbox and will be more prepared to find a solution that fits you rather than trying to shoe-horn you into their own preference.

Can I do anything myself to stop smoking?

As mentioned above, if you want to take control of your own smoking habit, then there is an article 'Stop smoking with NLP' on PlanetNLP.com that provides some exercises that will help to make the quitting process easier for you. To use hypnosis to quit smoking, I have written a Stop Smoking hypnosis script.