There are many methods that can be used to quit smoking, from nicotine gum and patches to snapping a rubber band on your wrist when you reach for a cigarette. One thing that is often advertised is a therapist who uses hypnosis to stop smoking. Of course, the perception that most people have of hypnotism comes from stage acts that use it to entertain, but hypnotherapy has gained in popularity as an effective treatment for various problems. If you're not sure whether to try hypnosis to stop smoking, you should learn a little more about it so you can evaluate if it's worth a shot.

How Does It Work?

When a therapist uses hypnosis to help someone stop smoking, they put the person through an induction procedure, in which a therapist uses calming techniques, voice tone and cadence, and other triggers in order to produce in a person a hypnotic state, which is theorized to be an intense state of concentration. While in this state, people are often more open to suggestion than they may be while in a typical state of mind. This altered state is what makes people try to use hypnosis to stop smoking; after all, if they take to the suggestion while under hypnosis, they reason, it must produce an instant cure.

Does Hypnosis Work?

Many clinical studies have been made as to whether hypnosis to stop smoking actually works, and the results are inconclusive. This means that no one has been able to determine if hypnosis to stop smoking actually does work, but on the other hand, no one has been able to definitively disprove it, either. Unfortunately, because hypnotherapy often addresses multiple lifestyle changes rather than the smoking itself, it's hard to conduct an adequate study as to how effective it is. However, hypnotherapy has been shown to successfully treat issues like anxiety and insomnia, so there's proof that it's not just a quack treatment, when applied in certain areas.

Ultimately, given that it's not a sure thing that hypnosis to stop smoking works, it's best to use it in conjunction with other methods, like the nicotine patch or cutting back on cigarettes in general. Because hypnotherapy can affect issues that might lead to increased smoking, such as anxiety, it could be considered a way to help bolster the effects of other treatments and help you to alter other lifestyle issues that lead to smoking. As with most things, there does not seem to be an easy way out when you're trying to quit smoking. Still, turning to hypnosis to quit smoking while working with other methods just might give you the edge you need to kick the habit.