Clinical Hypnotherapy uses the natural state of hypnosis as a powerful catalyst in appropriately bringing about desired outcomes, such as stopping smoking, and addressing issues that may be limiting a person in attaining what they want in order for them to live a more fulfilling life. Hypnotic states are characterized by calm and relaxed sensations where the person feels safe and secure. Everyone has the natural capacity of attaining hypnotic states and a major benefit of hypnosis is that it can magnify the effect of certain techniques.
Our unconscious minds regulate a great deal of what we do in our day-to-day activity. An excellent medium for communication with the unconscious mind is hypnosis. The reason why there is an advantage of using hypnosis, compared to being ‘wide-awake’, is that hypnosis modulates activity within brain structures that are critically involved in the regulation of consciousness (Balfour, Bucknell, Duncan & Price. 2002). This is somewhat like going to the Organ Grinder rather than the monkey for the tune you want to hear.
While hypnotic states themselves can be beneficial, it is the appropriate use of techniques that are of importance. Also of importance is what is done outside the hypnotic state. ‘A Clinical Hypnotherapist should adopt an integrated approach using an eclectic, multidimensional orientation that seeks to be comprehensive, able to incorporate many techniques both in and out of hypnosis’ (Hammond, 1990).
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) has a strong empirical research base for the effectiveness of helping people to make positive changes. The CBT approach provides an empowering, person centred and structured framework for collaborative working between client and therapist. CBT involves techniques that are much more inclusive to the variety of people out there because they specifically utilize how people function in everyday life. The best way to communicate with someone is in their own language and it is the same with our unconscious minds. CBT combined with hypnosis is all about focusing the mind in such a way that it is compelled to act upon because it is ultimately designed to do its best to look after us.
A understandable explanation of how we are neurologically wired up is that we like to avoid pain and gain pleasure, additionally we can employ an override whereby we can endure pain to get a future pleasure and/or to avoid a worse pain. This gives us very good adaption skills. The problems arise in our faulty associations with what is painful and pleasurable and means we all make mistakes which we can learn from.
So how does this work with smokers? When a smoker first inhales smoke the body reacts badly to the poison with choking and dizziness often occurring. However, the pleasure seeking aspect has associated smoking with desires such as being adult like, independent, comforting, fitting in with peers, rebelling, reducing stress, weight loss, being sexy etc, so instructions are given for the body to endure and desensitise the warnings from painful feelings caused by the toxic substances in tobacco smoke in order to gain the perceived pleasures, and/or avoid being worse off by not fitting in for example. All too quickly physical and psychological ties set in and a smoking habit is formed.
Stop Smoking Guaranteed™ deals with the underlying physical & psychological ties to smoking, reduces tension and anxieties and frees the individual from withdrawal symptoms. This is largely achieved by disseminating the unconscious belief structures people attach to smoking that conscious reasoning alone often fails to address.
