Quit Smoking
Quit Smoking with Melbourne Based Hypnotherapy Sessions
An addiction to smoking is often misunderstood as a purely physical craving caused by nicotine. In reality, smoking addictions take hold because it is a subconscious habit which originates from within our minds.
Thankfully, no habit is greater than the mind that created it, meaning the mind can also be used to break habits. If smoking is a subconscious habit created by the mind, it makes sense to tackle the habit at a subconscious level. This is where hypnosis or clinical hypnotherapy works to remove the habit of wanting to smoke. Much has been said about the addiction to nicotine being the problem, but let’s problematise this by using the example of a smoker about to board a plane for a 10-hour flight. Prior to the flight, they are chain-smoking, but on the flight, the cravings stop. They can’t get what they want so they stop wanting it. If nicotine was the cause of the addiction, it would be the other way around. The smoke before the flight would stop the nicotine craving and the lack of nicotine on the flight would create stronger cravings.
This indicates that smoking is a subconscious habit of the mind, which is what we must target to resolve the dependence on cigarettes.
Break the habit and quit smoking using your mind’s own power.
What is the success rate?
Our quit smoking hypnosis in Melbourne has helped countless residents in Knox, Oakleigh, Cranbourne, and beyond quit their habit over the past 10 years. Although many suggest a single session of hypnotherapy to quit smoking, it is suggested in a number of surveys conducted in America that only 25% who quit in the first session remained a non-smoker after 12 months. The surveys also found that 4-5 sessions increase the success rate up to 70%. Finally, the studies found that group sessions were not as effective as individual sessions. Drawing on this knowledge, Whole Mind Strategies do not offer group sessions.
(These figures come from published papers of studies from the 1970s and 1980s and are mentioned in the “Handbook of Hypnotic Suggestions and Metaphors” edited by D. Croydon Hammond, Ph.D.).
At this time, recordings were not generally used in between sessions, but there is no reason to doubt it would increase the long-term effectiveness and results of hypnotherapy. The use of cognitive behavioural therapy and choice theory in the session prior to the hypnotherapy is also likely to improve the results. A conservative estimate for the effectiveness of today’s techniques might be around 80% when carried out by a qualified hypnotherapist, which makes hypnotherapy a very attractive option compared to other methods of cessation.
When it comes to quitting smoking hypnosis, beware of people stating 97% success rates unless they can provide independent scientific proof of their claim, and also of people offering guaranteed outcomes, as this is against Victorian consumer law. A money-back guarantee is acceptable, but guaranteed outcomes are simply dishonest. Whole Mind Strategies, like other healthcare professionals such as Doctors, Psychologists and Psychiatrists do not offer guarantees. Inflated success rates and guarantees are often just unethical marketing tools to get people in the door.
Quit smoking with Whole Mind Strategies.
Our quit smoking program gives Melbourne locals two sessions to utilise, which are one week apart, and a set of two CDs to listen to between the sessions. This brings the total sessions to over eight for the week, but continued use of the CDs will give more. The individual counselling and hypnotherapy sessions explore triggers and stresses which are known to cause some people to fail at quitting smoking, with the CDs reinforcing these sessions.
Our quit-smoking hypnosis sessions are at the Whole Mind Strategies practice in Dandenong, conveniently located for residents in Knox, Oakleigh, Cranbourne and the greater Melbourne area. At Whole Mind Strategies, we also offer sports hypnosis, anger management counselling, and anxiety treatment.
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Mon – Thu: 10am-8pm
Friday-Sunday: Closed