subject: The Number One Way To Stop Smoking [print this page] A heart attack can be quite motivational in quitting smoking. However, it is not a realistic choice. After all, how many of us are sure of surviving a heart attack to get a second chance at life?
The most significant thing to be learned from these studies is that motivation is the most fundamental requirement if you want to stop smoking. Medication and nicotine replacement therapy do not work mainly because the motivational factor is completely missing.
The conclusion of 48 different studies that interviewed approximately 6,020 smokers is that hypnosis has the second highest quit rate after heart attacks. It is definitely better than waiting for a heart attack and betting on your chances to survive it.
Hypnosis works the best if you are motivated to stop smoking. It involves various methods such as relaxation, counseling, simple suggestions and complex imagery sequences.
Using hypnosis, the hypnotherapist puts the mind of the patient in an altered state where the subconscious mind is more active than the conscious mind. The subconscious mind is more receptive to new ideas and thoughts as it doesn't judge or edit them unlike the conscious mind.
In this state, when the patient is told that he is a non-smoker and doesn't need a cigarette it gets registered in his sub conscious mind. When he regains consciousness, he believes what he was told in the altered state of mind and behaves accordingly. This is essentially how hypnosis works.
A multi session hypnosis therapy with a qualified hypnotist has a success rate of about 66%, whereas people who try to stop smoking on their own without any help are rarely successful. Less than 5% of these people manage to keep themselves away from cigarettes for more than a year. Most of them succumb to the urge in the first few weeks after quitting.
An analysis of over 400 studies involving over 72,000 people by the Journal of Applied Psychology revealed that even one hypnosis session was three times more effective than nicotine replacement therapy.
You can also try this popular method and see the difference on your own.
