It’s the New Year and you may have a resolution to be healthier. So, if you want to stop smoking and want to you use hypnotherapy to help you, then this blog will tell you what the 2 keys to using hypnotherapy that open this process up are.
As a practicing hypnotherapist, who has worked with several thousand clients, many of whom are now free from smoking, these first two and purely arbitrary 2 steps are:
Key 1 – are you really ready to stop smoking?
Are you truly ready to stop? And I mean truly? If you’re thinking of stopping smoking with hypnotherapy please answer this question, as it’s one I ask every potential smoking client: ‘Imagine a scale of motivation that ranges from 0-10. 10 is the most motivated you can be to do anything. Truly, given that you do smoke, how motivated are you to stop?’
There is no absolute right and wrong answer here. However, there is a ‘right’ answer for me in order to potentially see them. The answer ranges from a 6-8 on that scale in which to want to stop smoking.
Why? There are several stages in stopping smoking and some interesting models can be found here and here. Essentially these stages are:
Pre-consideration / consideration. These people may be at the early stages of thinking about stopping and will answer less than a 6. They may be (understandably but sadly counter-productively) being nagged to stop smoking by those nearest and dearest to them. Terrifyingly, some people answer with a zero! For a host of reasons, these people are not in the right place to stop and I let them know that we can have a chat sometime in the future when they are ready.
Preparedness / action takers. These clients are ready to do it and are scoping out options that work for them. It’s why we talk to every potential client to make sure they’re ready and if they think that the likes of hypnotherapy would be a good choice for them to stop smoking. You can find out more about our approach here. These people answer my (purely arbitrary) with a score of 6-8.
The false positive. People here will say they are a 10/10 to stop smoking and are more motivated than they can ever be. It’s these clients that I will ask a lot of questions of, because if they are so motivated, one begs the question, how come they haven’t already stopped. This may bring up answers about beliefs about their ability to stop, what it does for them etc…
Where would you say you score on that scale…?
Key 2 – are you prepared to do what it takes?
Helping clients to stop smoking is the only treatment that I do that can be a life and death issue. I’ve worked with people in their 70’s who’ve smoked since they were 10! I’ve also worked with clients who have had throat cancer and continue to smoke. As such, the desire to stop has to outweigh any perceived pleasure from smoking.
Having worked with so many people, I can see a pattern of those clients who are more likely to stop. And this is through the doing all of the pre-session work that you would do before having your stop smoking appointment. I am very clear with clients that the questionnaire will take upto 90 mins of your time. Clients are also instructed to keep a log of every single cigarette that they smoke for a couple of days. The reason these two points are important is two fold.
Firstly it helps me understand what goes on in your head about smoking and allows me to tailor the treatment. A lot of therapists just have their clients turn up on the day and I personally think this preparatory work is very important. This is because as an example some people need more of an emphasis on emotional drivers e.g. stress, others are compelled to smoke and some people have beliefs about what smoking does for them. This pre-session work allows me to tailor someone’s session.
Secondly, the pre-session work demonstrates your motivation in stopping. If a client truly is motivated to stop smoking, then they will follow-through. However, for some reason, some clients think that they don’t have to do the work. Sadly, I am unable to help these people and I have to cancel their appointment.
Whilst these two keys are very important, they are just the start. When you have a stop smoking appointment with hypnotherapy, we then tailor everything to you. This would be based on the pre-session work mentioned above.
This is one of the few treatments that I draw on every part and modality of my training. So, I’ll use the likes of Clinical Hypnotherapy, NLP, TFT (amazing for compulsions BTW) and Havening to help my clients get the result.
When you mix this tailored approach with the two keys, you put yourself in the best possible position to be free of smoking forever. And if you’d like to explore if stopping smoking with hypnotherapy is something that you’d like to do, then you can read more here, or do get in touch via the contact form here on the page below. And if you book an appointment by the end of January, I’ll give you a 10% discount too.
Thanks for reading.
James
