Using hypnotherapy to quit smoking

Smoking related illnesses claim 114,000 lives annually in Great Britain; this includes an array of illnesses and conditions; for example, stomach and colon cancer, and chronic lung disease. These are just a few of the many reasons to quit smoking.

In spite of knowing the risks, countless smokers find it hard to quit smoking. They often try lots of times, yet are consistently unable to quit smoking long term. Although the risks are high, countless people find it difficult, if not impossible, to stop smoking. There are plenty of reasons why people like to smoke; some believe that it relaxes them, quite a few people simply like the social aspects of it.

Some smokers actually believe that they have been smoking for far too long to get any advantages from giving up at this stage, yet that isn’t the reality. The fundamental difference is the earlier you stop, the more you are going to lower your risk.

If you quit smoking cigarettes today, in as little as a couple of weeks from today, your circulation and lung function will surely have got better. In 5 years’ time your risk of stroke can tumble to that of a non-smoker. In ten years’ time your chances of developing lung cancer should have dropped to fifty percent of that of a smoker, and in 15 years’ time your risk of cardiovascular disease is likely to be the same as a non-smoker.

Why is quitting smoking so difficult?

The actual physical addiction to smoking is typically a small component in the total dependency. For most smokers, their real problem isn’t physical addiction to nicotine.

The most challenging obstruction to get over is the programming in the subconscious mind – the portion of the brain which manages our behaviours. It isn’t surprising, therefore, that nicotine patches typically do not help smokers give up for too long.

Research released through the Journal of Applied Psychology demonstrates that hypnosis is three times better at enabling a person to stop smoking cigarettes than nicotine replacement, and fifteen times more effective than willpower alone.

Studies show that nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) and willpower are not the most efficient methods if you want to stop smoking. In fact, hypnotherapy has been reported as being respectively 3 times and 15 times stronger.

So how does hypnotherapy help?

With the correct help, giving up smoking doesn’t need to be difficult. If you use the right approach, kicking your smoking habit doesn’t have to be an uphill struggle. By tackling the root of the issue, the hypnotherapist can assist you to be free from the subconscious yearning for cigarettes. This is done by using powerful visualisation and favourable suggestion techniques.

Not only does this carry enormous health advantages to the cigarette smoker, but also for their family and other people around them who might have been at the receiving end of countless quantities of second-hand smoke.

Paul Howard, a professional hypnotherapist and a stop smoking specialist, from The Surrey Institute of Clinical Hypnotherapy based in Surrey, said “With smokers, the most important thing that needs to be done is to change the fictitious beliefs held at the subconscious level. Once this is done it makes it much easier for the smoker to stop.”

The Surrey Institute of Clinical Hypnotherapy is committed to raising awareness to the help that hypnotherapy can bring to sufferers of psychological issues. They have specialists that cover various issues such as anxiety, weight control, insomnia, psoriasis and smoking. They have been in practice since 2002 and have male and female therapists on staff.