How Hypnosis Works to Help You Quit Smoking

Posted by yourintegratedhypnosis on May 22nd, 2019

Everyone should make an informed decision about using hypnosis to make improvements in their life. There are always pros and cons and the risk that hypnosis as a treatment might not be as effective as is expected or desired. If you're considering using hypnosis for smoking in Philadelphia, you should use the following to get to understand the process as fully as possible.

3 Parts to a Smoking Addiction

Relaxation and Pleasure: In a sense, smoking for many people is similar to having a favorite dessert or relaxing with a glass of wine. Either distract you from your normal routine and the pressures of everyday life. Over time, smoking to relieve stress brings about an association of relaxation and pleasure every time you smoke.

A Conditioned Response: This occurs when you associate smoking with a particular event or activity. You light up, say, when you have a drink or watch a movie. Eventually, if you do it enough times, you associate that event or activity with smoking. The next time you go to a bar or watch a movie, you have an urge to smoke. This also applies to when you feel an urge to smoke when you see someone smoking or usually smoke when driving your car. 

A Physical Addiction to Nicotine: Nicotine as an addictive agent is now well established, starting with the Surgeon General’s report on smoking in 1988 that listed smoking as an addiction in and of itself. In reality, the physically addictive part of a cigarette is the nicotine. There are conflicting medical research findings regarding how difficult it's to shed the nicotine addiction part of the smoking addiction.

How It Works

Hypnosis, like smoking, works with the unconscious part of the mind. Your unconscious mind is more open to suggestions or new ideas than your conscious mind. With smoking, associations with pleasure or habit prompt your conscious mind to light up; those associations happened back when you started smoking.

Hypnosis works on the same level to reprogram your unconscious mind. Your unconscious mind is the optimal learning state and as such, when the urge to smoke in your unconscious mind is effectively dealt with, your urge to smoke consciously is significantly reduced or eradicated.

Alternative Behaviors

Using hypnosis, healthy behaviors can be implanted in your unconscious mind to replace the unhealthy association between smoking and certain activities. For example, if you smoke when you drink, hypnosis can be used to associate more positive behavior with drinking, replacing the need to smoke.

That is really all there is to using hypnosis to quit smoking. Understanding how it works if you are thinking of using hypnosis for smoking in Philadelphia, though, is key in order to give yourself the best chance possible to kick the habit.