Are you trying to quit smoking? Or do you feel irritable ever since you quit smoking? If so, you’re not alone.
In Arizona, over 1 in 10 adults smoke. This smoking epidemic has led to over 730,000 Arizonian smokers and $2.7 billion in annual healthcare costs.
Regardless of if you know these statistics, quitting smoking has become a big challenge. This is where hypnosis comes in. With guided hypnosis, you can attempt to take control of this addiction.
In this post, you’ll explore what makes quitting smoking so difficult and how hypnosis can aid you to quit this bad habit.
What Is Hypnosis?
Hypnosis is a psychotherapy that changes the way you think and see things. It makes you more suggestible.
In hypnotherapy, a certified professional guides you into a different state of mind, significantly changing your emotions, behavior, and thoughts.
Through multiple hypnosis sessions, your unconscious mind can be molded to tackle personal problems such as addictions.
Why Quitting Smoking is Difficult?
Smoking is hard to quit for two main reasons. One is the habits you have around smoking, and the other is the nicotine inside cigarettes.
When it comes to smoking habits, one thing that pressurizes you to smoke is the social groups of smokers. The other thing is that you have associations between your smoking and other daily tasks. Let’s say you are used to smoking after work. In that case, you’ll want to smoke after each shift. Lastly, stress is another significant reason that often creates a thought in your mind to smoke.
As for nicotine, it’s the most prevalent addictive drug in tobacco. With each cigarette you smoke, your brain receives ‘feel-good’ chemicals like dopamine. Over time, nicotine no longer gives you a pleasant experience. Instead, you require nicotine just to feel like your usual self. In fact, you’ll be irritable and uncomfortable if you try to stop smoking. For weeks, you will keep experiencing these withdrawal symptoms along with a strong urge to smoke.
How to Quit Smoking with Hypnosis?
Through neuroimaging, we now know that hypnosis affects the way your brain works. More specifically, hypnosis makes your brain experience what you imagine. And so some researchers think hypnosis can change your behavior.
Here are the ways to quit smoking through hypnosis:
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Finding a Hypnotherapist
Firstly, you need to locate a professional therapist. You must find a professional to ensure you get qualified care. So, this professional should be accredited and be part of one of the major medical hypnosis associations.
For the best hypnosis therapy in Arizona, check if the therapist is a member of clinical hypnosis boards and societies. Specifically, they’ll need to have experience helping other smokers quit.
You can also ask your doctor if you need help finding a certified hypnotherapist. Then, your doctor will direct you to a trusted colleague. Alternatively, you can contact an addiction counselor for advice on hypnosis.
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Finding a Hypnosis Method
Once you’ve settled on a therapist, you need to decide on a hypnosis method. Discuss the different hypnosis methods available with your therapist. Together, you can decide on the hypnosis method that suits you best.
Here are various hypnosis methods:
- Traditional Hypnosis: While in a trance, your therapist will make direct suggestions or give you orders. These suggestions are meant to alter your day-to-day behaviour, emotions, and thoughts.
- Ericksonian Hypnosis: Your therapist will indirectly use metaphors or storytelling to make suggestions. This method of hypnosis is supposed to make you more likely to enter your subconscious mind.
- Cognitive-behavioral Hypnosis: Your therapist will use psychological techniques to help you conceptualize quitting smoking. This hypnosis also enables you to understand your smoking addiction.
- Solution-Focused Hypnosis: Your therapist will help you imagine a future where you are no longer addicted to smoking. Solution-focused hypnosis relies on setting goals to quit smoking.
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Going into a Trance
Trance is an altered state of mind under which you’ll become relaxed with the help of your therapist’s guidance. In this phase, you’ll be fully awake and conscious.
When you’re under a hypnosis technique, you feel like you’re outside your body. Possibly, you’ll sense that you’re outside the therapist’s office.
Besides, you don’t lose all control when you’re in an altered state. Rather, you can refuse suggestions and commands while under hypnosis.
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Changing Your Perception
This phase involves changing your perception of smoking in the trance state. Your therapist will choose a hypnosis method and keep working on altering your thoughts.
Let’s say your therapist takes you through the traditional hypnosis method. During the session, they will politely tell you things to change your perception of smoking. For example, your therapist may say to you:
“Nicotine harms your body.”
“Quitting smoking is good for you.”
“You deserve protection from smoke.”
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Getting Out of the Trance
Then, your therapist will slowly help you to get out of the trance. The therapist awakens you to ensure that you don’t have any adverse response to hypnosis. However, This awakening process needs to be gradual and controlled.
Your therapist can awaken you from your trance through different ways. For instance, they can simply alert you that the session is over, or they’ll tell you, “You can awaken.” Alternatively, they’ll guide you back to your normal state of mind through suggestions or a countdown.
Keep in mind: Hypnosis treatment takes multiple sessions to be effective.
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Self-Hypnosis
Self-hypnosis is another best way to quit smoking. It is a less structured technique where you induce a hypnotic state by yourself. By guiding your own thoughts, you can achieve a relaxed, focused state, similar to meditation.
In this process, you start by focusing on not smoking. Once focused, you’ll need to relax deeply. Much like with guided hypnosis, you will enter a trance. Then, you’ll need to imagine pleasant sceneries, like visualizing quitting smoking. This way, you’ll slowly come out of your trance at the end.
Conclusion
Now you know that hypnosis is your secret weapon to quit smoking. It reprograms your mind, turning ‘I can’t’ into ‘I will.’ With each session discussed in this blog, you’re one step closer to freedom from smoking. It’s not just quitting a habit; it’s caring for your health. So, start now with hypnosis and feel the change. Remember, every breath without smoke adds more breaths to your life!