Does hypnosis help you stop smoking?

I was called by a local newspaper recently to ask if I wanted to take part in their National No Smoking Day advertising campaign. No Smoking Day is on the 11th of March and in the past this would have been an easy choice to make; just say yes and sort out the advert. But I didn't do this and in a moment I'll explain why.

Many people are aware that hypnosis is by far the most effective way to become a non-smoker...as long as it is done well. Part of the problem with any quit smoking method is effectively measuring the results. With so many variables to work with it is difficult to know how effective each method is.

Typically hypnosis is believed to have about a 30% effectiveness when it has been measured in the past. This compares with a 3-5% success rate by going cold turkey. In my own practice I believe my success rate is around 70-75%, though admittedly this is not a scientific measurement.

Some time ago I was taken to task by an NHS quit smoking adviser for promoting hypnosis as an aid to stopping smoking. She explained that in her NHS work she had seen a number of people for whom hypnosis had not been successful. And yet if a drug was useful 30% of the time it would be hailed as a success. The conversation was interesting (and rather testy at times), Smoking advisers are paid per client by the NHS regardless of outcome so you might say we were competitors in the market.

During this exchange of views (that happened by email) I explained that hypnosis forms one part of what I do in a quit smoking session, I also use counseling, audio CDs and EFT. The effect was magical when I mentioned EFT; "Oh that's a wonderful method...but they won't let me use it in NHS sessions".

So in the end I had an admission from an NHS quit smoking adviser that there were better methods than she used to help a person become a non-smoker than those used by the NHS.

So back to the story of the advert; did I spend money and book it? No. Because there is simply no way a single therapist can compete with an NHS budget in millions. Trying to fight that battle is the road to ruin.

But if you do want to become a non-smoker, a combination of hypnosis and EFT is just about the most effective way to go.