It is thought that hypnosis helps a person change behavior or attitude by affecting the subconscious mind. While it may be argued whether or not the subconscious controls behavior and attitude, it is a commonly accepted psychological principle that the subconscious has a great deal of influence on actions and perceptions. Many people think that in order to experience hypnosis, they will go into an altered state of mind in which they lose touch with what's going on around them, or go into a state of deep sleep, or become subject to being ordered to do things by the hypnotist. Nothing could be further from the truth. In actuality, while hypnosis is an altered state of consciousness, you do not go to sleep, or become unconscious, or become unaware of what's going on around you. The pathway to the subconscious is through the conscious mind, so expect to be aware of where you are, the sounds that are present, and that you are in an office in which hypnosis is taking place.
A typical smoking cessation session consists of first, a brief interview to get acquainted, explain procedures, and answer any questions you might have. This gives me a chance to get to know you a little better than the time spent with you on the phone setting up the appointment. It further gives me an opportunity to determine what kinds of hypnotic suggestions will work best for you. In other words, I do not have a "cookie cutter" approach in which everyone who comes for help quitting smoking gets the same exact session. Instead, your session will be unique according to your personal needs.
After the interview, I will teach you how to do self-hypnosis. This will introduce you to hypnosis and also give you a technique you can use on your own in as little as five minutes or less to supplement the office visit. Then we will do the main part of the session, which is the use of hypnosis to help you quit smoking. This will involve five components: 1) the hypnotic induction; 2) deepening the experience; 3) suggestions to help you quit smoking; 4) post-hypnotic suggestions; and 5) emerging from the hypnotic experience. The entire session will be recorded and burned onto a CD which you will receive upon completion of the session. A big part of your treatment will be to listen to the CD from time to time because in that way you can replicate the hypnotic session for smoking cessation in the comfort of your own space. Finally, you will receive written material covering such things as behavior modification, stress management, and meditation.
When I started conducting hypnosis sessions in 1981 and in many of the years since then, there were neither nicotine replacement systems nor medicines specifically designed to help people quit smoking. Since I worked successfully with hundreds of people before these other treatments existed, I know hypnosis can work on its own. Yet if you want to use hypnosis along with one or both of these other treatment options, it is clearly compatible to use hypnosis with a nicotine replacement system, or with medication, or with both.
