Hypnotherapy to quit smoking - does it work? 16 June 2009 at 12:45PM in Marriage, relationships & families 30 replies 40.5K views

pretzelnut

My mum has smoked since she was 13 now she is 49 and desperately wants to quit smoking.

She has tried everything from sheer willpower to using patches, gum and anything else going. All to no avail.

She is set in her ways and to break an addiction of such long standing is proving way harder than she ever thought.

The doctor gave her a leaflet about an NHS hypnotherapist who does private sessions to quit smoking. In this leaflet he claims that 1 session (costing £85) is all that will be needed and she will never smoke again.

Now normally i would say - what a load of tosh, but he has been reccomended by her GP and has a very good list of credentials. So that suggests to me that he is very credable in what he does.

So i am asking for your opinions on wheter she should try this route, £85 is a lot of money (yes i know so is smoking) , what if it doesnt work?

Have any of you have any similar experiences of doing such a thing?

Would you try this yourself if all other routes had been exhausted?

I would love it to work for her - to improve her health and finally to have a smoke free mum, im just worried thatshe will pin her hopes on it working, then if it doesnt she will completely give up trying altogether.

maggied_2

FWIW I have tried it and it did work - for a while. But like any other method if you don't really want to stop, or your old triggers are still there (partner smoking, passing the shop where you buys your fags on the way to work etc etc) then it won't work unless you have the willpower and blind determination. I have to say the ony thing that's stopped me is wanting to try for a baby....you have to REEEEEEAAALLLY want it!
Has she tried any of the medical methods? I know there are risks with Zyban and Champix but they do take away the physical urge to smoke.

Anyway - if she wants to then yes it will - I know people it has worked for.

ameliarate

I don't know about hypnotherapy but I know a few people who have stopped using Champix, though there can be side efffects, as with any drug.

Your post sounds exactly like me - even the ages - and it really is so hard to stop. As maggied said you have to WANT to stop and even though we known "intellectually" that we should, the addiction stops us from event wanting to.

pretzelnut

She doesnt want to try meds as she has had friends who have had bad experiences with them and thathas really out her off.

I think she's hoping that the hpnotherapist will be able to alter her thought process as that seems to be the one thing she is unable to change herself. 36 years of thinking about smoking is a very long thought process to break.

kathyb1230

ameliarate wrote: »

I don't know about hypnotherapy but I know a few people who have stopped using Champix, though there can be side efffects, as with any drug. QUOTE]

I can definitely vouch for Champix. I've just finished my 2nd week, and can honestly say that I don't crave nicotine at all, it's just the habit of nipping out for a quick one that I have to break.
Trust me, I've tried willpower alone, patches, gum and hypnotherapy (for dieting, but still didn't work), and Champix is the first thing that's made me think that I can finally crack it.

I won't get into the 'how and why' it works, but feel free to pm me if you want any further info. And just to clarify, I'm not in any way affiliated with whoever it is who makes Champix, I'm just a very happy customer.

kindofagilr

I think she should give it a shot if she has tried everything else

Look at it this way, if she is a 20 a day smoker, then in 2 weeks of not smoking she will have paid for the hypnotherapy

pretzelnut

Ive give him a ring and he's assured me he's no conman (otherwise he wouldnt have a high paid job witht he NHS).

So i have arranged an inital free consultation for my mum so she can go through the ins and outs of it without parting with any cash, then when she has a few more facts she can make a decision.

He seemed really nice so if it works for my mum i might go and see if he can help with building my confidence up.

lovethymini

My old boss had hypnotherapy and it worked.

She didn't think it worked immediately afterwards, she rang me and had a right old moan about wasting £200, but the next morning, she didn't want a cigarette, and she hasn't touched one since - it's been a good 4 years !!!

diable

Right, where do I start. I was a 40 a day smoker more on weekends and late nights out. I decided it was time to give up and someone gave me a leaflet that the doctor had given them as they where advised to give up due to the thikening of her arteries, I gave the guy a ring had a chat and said I would think about it and read all his info on his website (Max Kirsten) then did nothing about it.

Over the next 6 to 8 months I kept thinking about it spoke to a few people who wanted to give up and to others that had success stories from their friends and from others that had been hypnotised and had started smoking due to some sort of trauma in their life, kept talking about it kept thinking about it then worked out what I wanted to do and called Max and made an appointment for Monday in the evening as this to me was important as I could go after work then home to bed to rest and for it to be far away from the weekend as possible so that I would not be tempted to smoke.

The Monday arrived and I was hypnotised and I won't describe the feeling but before I walked out of there I was asked what I wanted to do with my cigarettes that I had left on the desk, they went into the bin, on the way back to the car I felt my lighter in my pocket it was a strange feeling and once in the car it went in to the glove compartment.

On the Thursday I was in the pub (smoking ban had not been imposed) and had not smoked since my session and to tell you the truth it did not bother me and none of my friends could believe that I had stopped the woman who gave me the leaflet still smokes to this day and I believe in August it will be 4 years and I never feel the urge to smoke at all.

The only advise I will give it that you want to give up, choose the right time and day to go and then like me once you have had your session get an empty bottle and everyday roll up a £5 note and push it into the bottle and after 3 months smash it open and with the £400 treat yourself to a nice present as this will always help you remember that you gave up smoking.

HTH

ps at the time it cost me £195, best £195 I have spent in my life.

RedBern

not a smoker myself - but know a lot of people have given up following the Alan Carr book. From what I gather it explains the crave to smoke and how you can beat it by understanding it. Probably cost £5 to find out whether it is any good?

Buddingblonde

The doctor gave her a leaflet about an NHS hypnotherapist who does private sessions to quit smoking. In this leaflet he claims that 1 session (costing £85) is all that will be needed and she will never smoke again.

If this was the case then there would be no smokers left in the NHS! There would be no NRT and need for expensive drugs. All the studies that have been done on hypnosis over the years show that is no more successful that will power alone. You still have to go through drug withdrawal (which can be pretty unpleasant) and also the habits and association stuff.

I have 14 years of smoking cessation experience (I have been an addiction counsellor up until recently).

The best way to stop smoking is Champix - the results compaired to everything else are way beyond Zyban and NRT. If not suitable then NRT is an option but the problem with most smokers on nrt is that they do not take enough of it for long enough. Most people should be using 2 products (those smoking 20 a day+)

The problem for most smokers isn't the drug addiction but the habits of smoking - until they address the reasons why they smoke they will not succeed.

The other thing I would say is that most smokers are completely unrealistic about stopping smoking - it is something that will take most smokers 6 months to a year to truly get mentally into the habit of being a non smoker (note I said non smoker rather than ex smoker). Those who cannot accept not smoking as a long term goal will not stop.

I am more than happy to talk to anyone who wants to pm me about smoking and stopping. I might have retired from it professionally but I am more than happy to spread the knowledge and experience.

Ax

PS and before anyone asks I am an ex smoker - I used to smoke 40 a day and I gave up years ago without anything or anyone - just got fed up of all my money going on it.