Before you ask, yes, I did search, and am really surprised I didn’t find anything on the forums. I know I can find plenty through Google or other sources, but honestly I believe I will prefer the responses I would find here.
So, has anyone quit smoking through hypnotism?
Is there a recommended course of action, ie: cut down on the number of cigarettes, then an appointment with a hypnotist?
Are there many sessions involved, or generally is it an all or nothing shot at one session?
What sort of cost would I be looking at if I were interested?
What is the general idea behind it? Is it to suggest to the hypnotee that they don’t really enjoy smoking, and that they want to never have another cigarette?
I’d appreciate any replies from anyone with any experience, whether positive or negative, or even if possible from a hypnotist involved in such ‘therapy’.
I quit smoking via hypnotism in 1984 after 9 years of smoking, with an approximately 3/4 pack a day habit.
I went in once to discuss the whole thing with the hypnotist, free of charge (consultation), during which he asked me questions about myself and how I pictured myself and so on.
I then went in for the actual appointment, which cost $75 (1984 dollars, Athens GA) and lasted maybe an hour and was the only visit I had with him.
Came home, cheerfully took half a carton of cigarettes, 3 tobacco pipes, a couple pouches of pipe tobacco and some pipe cleaners out back into the driveway and doused the whole works with gasoline and ceremoniously burned it all, and have not smoked nor missed it since.
I can go to bars with my friends and drink beer and be surrounded by folks smoking cigarettes and it doesn’t bother me in the sense of craving or missing, nor in the sense of revulsion or aversion. (I’ve found over the years that I don’t like cigarette smoke in conjunction with air conditioning, it concentrates it somehow; and mostly I don’t like being in a smoke-filled room).
It was made irrelevant to me. I can distantly remember smoking and enjoying it, in much the same way that I can distantly remember sucking my thumb and enjoying it, or having a real love for Kool-Aid and drinking many plastic glasses full of it. In all three cases I don’t connect with the habit at all most of the time, and even when I can recall by reminiscing I don’t get a rush of “gee I wish I was doing that right now” or anything.
Physical detox took about 10 days, of which the first three were the worst, and no particularly big deal (going for long hikes helped).
If you don’t mind I’m also wondering what your mindset was like when you went for the hypnotism session? Were you a believer in hypnotism beforehand? Did you really want to quit at that point, or was it more of something you thought you needed to do (for your health, etc.)?
I would really like to hear from more people, I’m surprised no one else has any experience with the subject. I’ve only known one other person that has attempted quitting through hypnotism; it worked for him as well.
So far 2 out of 2 people have successfully quit through hypnotism, this sounds good for me!
I had tried to quit previously (did “quit”, in fact, just didn’t “stay quit”). Failing that, had done a stint during which my attitude was “Well, if I’m going to be a person who smokes, for the rest of my life, I’m going to smoke nice smokes and I’m bloody well going to enjoy it and not feel lousy about the fact that I’m a smoker.”
Unfortunately, I just couldn’t wring much pleasure out of it. For every time when the taste was pleasant and the relaxation sublime and the overall experience luxurious, there were hundred of time when it was just a big nothing aside from the fact that I no longer “needed to smoke” for some interval before I’d want my nicotine hit again. And I got very annoyed with running out at awkward times and going to quite a bit of trouble to secure a smoke and still not enjoy it very much. It wasn’t health – I was willing to accept (at least thought I was) the health negatives if I could enjoy being a smoker but if I couldn’t have that there just wasn’t any point to it and I was just a nicotine addict plain and simple.
I believed in hypnotism as a mechanism for helping you get coherent and consistent with yourself, to focus and clarify and get your thoughts and feelings on the same channel.
I went to one of the mass hypnotism stop smoking things and wound up restarting after three days. This cost about $50, but theoritically came with a life time warranty. I can no attend any session they have in my area free of charge. Unfortunately, they haven’t had one in the subsequent two years and I doubt they ever will. Their web site is no longer in operation and I doubt they exist anymore. I would definitely advise you to use a reputable established hypnotist if you do use one. Good luck!
This is interesting… 2 out of 2 that tried individual sessions succeeded, while one who tried a group session didn’t quit afterwards. I suppose that’s the nature of hypnotism, it has to be an individual process.
FWIW, I’m only considering an individual session. I’ll be looking into local hypnotists tonight, hope to find one that looks promising.
I tried it (cost $85 IIRC) and it didn’t work for me. Maybe I was in the wrong mindset, or maybe I didn’t really want to quit. Or maybe I was skeptical and decided to light one up on the drive home to see what would happen.
I was truly hypnotized, it was weird. I guess it was worth the money just for that.