Throughout the country, states have curtained smoking in public areas. Numerous professional companies have declared their work environments to be smoke-free, and are sanctioning workers if they smoke while working. Smokers brave bad weather and rain, sleet or snow, and smoke away as fast as they can in order to go back to work.

In some communities, smoking is a behavior as negatively perceived as using illicit drugs. Since people are aware of stop smoking benefits, many people are working to try to find ways to stop smoking.

There are three components to a smoking habit:

1. Smoking for relaxation and pleasure is about 45 percent of the reason that people continue to smoke.

2. People smoke because they have created an unconscious association between an activity or environment and a cigarette. Then, every time they get into that environment, they get a craving. For instance, an individual may come to associate smoking with their bedtime ritual. They will come to associate smoking with sleep so strongly that it is almost impossible to go to sleep without having a cigarette first. Example: If you watch TV and smoke, the smoking will become a conditioned response to watching TV. So each time you watch TV, you’ll feel an urge to smoke. This is the reason for approximately 45 percent of the smoking habit.

3. People smoke because they develop a physical addiction to Nicotine. Physical addiction is about 10 percent of the reason why people continue to smoke. Within only three days of quitting, a person’s body is completely Nicotine-free!

A number of strategies have been developed to assist people learn ways to quit smoking. One particularly inexpensive way to stop smoking, which is reimbursed through most insurance agencies, is the nicotine patch. These easily applied patches are used for 24 hours and can be secreted beneath a person’s clothing. The problem with these patches, however, is that patches are not very effective. Because patches only deal with the actual addiction, which results in merely one-tenth of the smoking habit, their success rate is only 7%.

Much the same rate of success applied to nicotine gum or lozenges. Not even one in ten clients who use these strategies will report success with these ways to quit smoking for six months or more. In addition, these products sometimes cause side effects. They, are known to be harmful to the users’ mouth and lips, and many people experience skin discomfort under the patch. Remember,, these items treat only the physical addiction, which only comprises around one-tenth of the habit.

Yet another strategy is the development of psychotherapy and smoking cessation sessions. These classes include behavior modification techniques and extensive information regarding the adverse effects of smoking. These methods are three times as successful as nicotine replacement treatments; the success rate is 22% at six months.

Numerous smokers have tried laser treatment programs to help quit smoking. This method is sometimes paid for by insurance, although it is new. Clinical studies performed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), however, reveal that these treatments are not any more effective than placebo. (Placebo is the result that happens when people think they are receiving therapy, but actually are not.)

One of the ways to quit smoking seems to be somewhat more useful than the preceding ways. During one research study, smokers were given shots to help them stop smoking by taking away the ‘buzz’ of the nicotine rush. This strategy, in the beginning phases of testing for success, thus far seems to work for fifteen percent of the individuals who used it.

Hypnotherapy is another way of assisting people to stop smoking. Hypnotherapy focuses on programming the unconscious mind to instantaneously implement other actions to provide comfort and peace, as opposed to the nicotine dependency. It also can be employed to erase or “extinguish” behavioral responses like the connection described between cigarettes and actions in the above example, so the smoker is relieved of the need to smoke when in the environments that previously trigger it.

Male clients seem to have a higher success rate with stop smoking hypnosis than female clients do. One benefit of self hypnosis stop smoking, however, is that, in comparison to individuals utilize nicotine replacement as strategies to stop smoking, there are no undesirable side effects.

Another helpful characteristic of hypnotherapy is that it addresses the 90% facet of the dependence that is psychological, unlike the other approaches that only treat the one-tenth element of the dependence that is physical. For this reason, hypnosis has a much higher success rate than the previously mentioned methods of smoking cessation. Traditional hypnotherapy techniques can offer a 35 percent chance of success, while Ericksonian hypnotherapy can offer a 50% or higher success rate.

A newer, revolutionary, and certainly more effective method that encourages individuals to obliterate a smoking dependency is Neuro-Linguistic Programming, or NLP. This strategy is far more successful than conventional styles of quit smoking hypnosis as it does not rely on post-hypnotic suggestions at all. The majority of clients, especially people who tend to be critical thinkers, resist post-hypnotic suggestions. Through the use of NLP, the person’s unconscious mind is trained to use the same exact mental patterns that cause the mental problem with smoking, to eradicate it!

A well-designed NLP smoking cessation strategy developed by a trained NLP Practitioner can result in a positive outcome rate of as much as 70 percent or greater.

Summary: Most smoking cessation methods try to employ nicotine replacement strategies as ways to stop smoking. Some therapies, like smoking cessation and cognitive or behavioral treatment courses, work to coach the mind learn ways to quit smoking.

Despite the fact that hypnotherapy is more effective than other approaches, particularly with male patients, most people do not rate it as the most useful way to stop smoking. Neuro-Linguistic Programming, which focuses on the mental aspects of nicotine addiction, actually aids individuals to alter their cognitive patterns to help them stop most successfully.

Because 90% of a person’s problem with cigarettes is psychological in nature, these treatments are significantly more successful than simply replacing the nicotine and treating the one-tenth piece of the addiction that is physiological.

Conclusion: A number of smoking cessation programs, such as nicotine replacement therapy and psychotherapy have been developed. These methods typically result in a less than 20 percent success rate. In contrast, hypnotherapy yields a much higher probability of success. Neuro-Linguistic Programming is even more beneficial in assisting individuals to effectively combat the psychological nature of their addiction and realize immeasurably more success in their struggle to become smoke-free.

Alan B. Densky, CH is the developer of the easy way to stop smoking with hypnotism. He offers a potent Stop Smokeless Tobacco program based on the same methods. Learn more at his Neuro-VISION self hypnosis site where you can use Free hypnotherapy videos and articles.

– Alan B. Densky, CH