Thursday, October 18, 2007

Quit Smoking Hypnosis - Far Better Than a Patch

The hypnosis treatment for smoking cessation is commonly called the Quit Smoking Hypnosis. This new program is often a self-hypnosis form of treatment mainly for those who intend to avoid nicotine intake. When individuals who opt to quit smoking undergo such therapy, sometimes they experience withdrawal symptoms. These symptoms are largely the result of powerful conditioned response.

In some studies, these conditioned responses must be reinforced by the individual's credence and his self talk. Basically, when you acclimatize your body by telling yourself that quitting is always so hard and that you will never be able to stop, this is just the same as telling your body to crave for a cigarette and smoke one.

The most effective quit smoking hypnosis procedure entails the client's portrayal of a hypnotist's role along with positive self-talk. This way withdrawal symptom is eliminated as you do not fall prey to the negative self-talk that assures failure.

As mentioned earlier, conditioned responses are powerful and are effective for smoking cessation. The individual must learn to create new conditioned responses. Below are a few steps one can do to create new conditioned responses:

- Close your eyes, relax, and imagine your future state when you no longer take in nicotine by cigarette smoking. Make visual experience as real as you can by adding in you other sensory perceptions, which includes the sounds, the smells, the tastes, and the feelings.

- Dwell on this trip to your future time line when you have completely forgotten about smoking. Reflect on the feeling of amazement you experience once you stopped having any desire for tobacco and never gave it another thought.

- Begin to really feel the freedom you have and notice what it is like that your thoughts are your own and no longer owned by cigarettes. Continue to dwell on these and let your mind take these future resources back with you by anchoring these feelings of being a non-smoker.

- To anchor the future resources, press the thumb and finger together on your right hand. Do this for about 30 seconds, as this connects the feelings or the state to your brain.

- After this, bring yourself back to the present moment still holding your thumb and finger together.

As a new conditioned response is created one may use this whenever he thinks of wanting a cigarette. Together with the anchor, begin to be conscious of reminding yourself that the urge will be gone in a moment. Drinking a big glass of water will also help, along with three (3) very deep, slow breaths.

The whole simple procedure described above is a means of breaking the old pattern of a conditioned response of craving. It also tells one's brain to access a new feeling - the image of a non-smoker.

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