To deal with the mental aspects of smoking, the hypnotherapist takes benefit of the mind’s natural aptitude to envisage and picture. The smoker envisages himself to have given up smoking and thereafter be healthier, full of energy and vigor. He can see himself as appearing more attractive, and being more energetic.
To attend to the physical aspect of smoking, the therapist tends to change the perception of the fondness from pleasant to unpleasant. The smoker can envisage cigarettes as unpleasant, disagreeable, foul-smelling and bad tasting.
This facilitates him to quit smoking.
Once the smoker has successfully given up smoking, a need is there to reinforce the program that led to quitting to prevent any relapse.
Hypnotherapists deal with this by giving the clients smoking CD’s or tapes to take away. The clients are advised to continue reinforcement by themselves.
Not everyone wants to turn over control to the hypnotherapist. Quitting smoking is really best when done with one’s own self-determism. Then one can truly say, “I did it!”
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