Published Articles
By Dr. William R. Morrow, D.Min. LMFT

“Hypnosis for Smoking Cessation”

When the American Cancer Society held its annual Great American Smokeout, I received a few calls from smokers about wanting to use hypnosis to help them quit cigarettes. I could tell they were serious because, in between coughing bouts, they told me heart-felt stories of their new motivation to quit. I believed them. Usually they were talking about medical conditions, which were forcing them to face the hard reality of their addiction.

One guy had already had by-pass surgery on his heart arteries. He had a sneaking suspicion that he was dangerously addicted when he walked out of the hospital, after this major repair job, and lit up a cigarette. Talk about conflicted motivation! He knew he was not winning the battle against nicotine even though his wife (and all the people around him who loved him) were pleading for his longevity. Just appealing to his common sense was no match for the superpower of the addiction center of the brain. He knew it was going to take super weaponry to wipe out the urges to smoke that plagued him. Inside, he told me, there were arguments raging as dramatic as the Lincoln-Douglas debates.

One part of him knew the reasonableness of quitting; meanwhile the internal opposing counsel was pushing for just another drag. Push-pull. Life and death. How to bring whatever reinforcements he could muster to the rational side? I told him that the addiction center of the brain is also the depression center, so I knew he was up against the demons of netherworld proportions.

How was I, with my mere mortal tools of clinical hypnosis, going to combat such powerful forces? Fortunately, I didn’t have to concede defeat, because I discovered, on questioning, that this brave soul was already signed up for a support group. It was a pleasant surprise, because most people who call for hypnosis are looking for some kind of magic which hypnosis cannot supply. They are well intentioned, but grown pathologically passive in their sense of helplessness.

Clinical hypnosis is a very useful tool to help people stop smoking ONLY if they are prepared to take an active role in their becoming an ex-smoker. And, the good news is they can! Employing the resources of their subconscious, where lies the desire for health and long life, can strengthen their conscious resolve to quit the habit.

Taking responsibility for managing the addictive nature of tobacco requires, based on my experience, several other measures than a hypnosis fix. When I get the phone call, I tell people that they must first join a support group. The best scientific research concerning what is effective in the long run confirms that those in a support group are more likely to remain smoke-free after six months of a target date of quitting. Many, who undergo a quick fix from one-time hypnosis, find themselves resuming smoking, and looking for other methods that don’t require them to take more responsibility.

There are other pro-active measures that seem to help and reinforce the resolve. For example, exercise during the withdrawal period, is a help, probably because it is a natural anti-depressant. Changing the triggers of desire that lead, like links in a chain, back to smoking, can also put the determined ex-smoker on the side of the angels: Change the links in the chain such as the chair you usually sit in when habit puts you in danger. Hypnosis can help here as well because what you can visualize in an altered state of consciousness, you can do. Hypnosis, recorded on a CD for home-consumption, reiterates the worded program for increasing self-confidence, and must be practiced every day.

Free Nicotine Anonymous support group meets weekly in Lee County. www.nicotine-anonymous.org for information.

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