Can hypnotherapy help me to quit smoking?

Thinking of how to quit smoking? Ten’s of thousands of people in the UK alone can testify to the efficacy of hypnotherapy for many conditions. Amongst these the use of hypnosis to help quit smoking is one of the most popular.  You may well already know someone who quit smoking through the use of hypnotherapy.

What about scientific evidence that hypnosis can help you quit smoking?

A number of studies have found that hypnotherapy does indeed help you to quit smoking (Tahiri et al 2012. Rabkin, et al 1984. Carmody, et al . 2008. Spiegel et al 1993 to name a few.) Indeed one researcher team identified at least 24 studies which indicated positive benefits in the use of hypnotherapy to quit smoking (Green, Lynn, & Montgomery 2008).  Of particular interest was a study which found that Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT), itself a proven beneficial therapy, was significantly less effective in helping people quit smoking than hypnotherapy (Hasan et al 2014).

Sadly hypnotherapy cannot make you quit smoking

Unfortunately despite all the positive evidence there is no simple solution to help you quit smoking. Even hypnotherapy is a collaborative process in which you need a few things, such as;

  1. An openness to experience – Hypnosis requires a decision on your part to be willing to experience it.
  2. Your commitment – Come when you are 80% or more certain that you are ready to quit smoking and become a non-smoker
  3. You have a reason – Know your motivation, be it health, wealth, family or just because you can no longer stand the smell.

If you are ready to quit smoking I wish you all the best!

You may also like to know how to find the right hypnotherapist and Hypnotherapy – Cost?

quit smoking

The author – Matt is a hypnotherapists in Birmingham with over 16 years experience of helping people to quit smoking.

References
Carmody, T. P., Duncan, C., Simon, J. A., Solkowitz, S., Huggins, J., Lee, S., & Delucchi, K. (2008). Hypnosis for smoking cessation: a randomized trial. Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 10(5), 811-818.
Green, J. P., Lynn, S. J., & Montgomery, G. H. (2008). Gender-related differences in hypnosis-based treatments for smoking: a follow-up meta-analysis. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 50(3), 259-271.
Rabkin, S. W., Boyko, E., Shane, F., & Kaufert, J. (1984). A randomized trial comparing smoking cessation programs utilizing behaviour modification, health education or hypnosis. Addictive behaviors, 9(2), 157-173.

Hasan, F. M., Zagarins, S. E., Pischke, K. M., Saiyed, S., Bettencourt, A. M., Beal, L., … & McCleary, N. (2014). Hypnotherapy is more effective than nicotine replacement therapy for smoking cessation: results of a randomized controlled trial. Complementary therapies in medicine, 22(1), 1-8.

Spiegel, D., Frischholz, E. J., Fleiss, J. L., & Spiegel, H. (1993). Predictors of smoking abstinence following a single-session restructuring intervention with self-hypnosis. American Journal of Psychiatry, 150, 1090-1090.
Tahiri, M., Mottillo, S., Joseph, L., Pilote, L., & Eisenberg, M. J. (2012). Alternative smoking cessation aids: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. The American journal of medicine, 125(6), 576-584.