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Why Hypnosis For Smoking?

What is hypnotherapy and how does it help you stop smoking?

Hypnosis, as you probably know, has been a tool in smoking cessation for over sixty years. How successful it has been depends on who you ask and probably where you went to have it done. Many assume hypnosis magically makes your nicotine dependency disappear or makes you hate cigarettes or it makes you quit, even if you didn't want to. None of that is true.

The early applications of hypnosis centered around the success hypnosis was having with pain control. The idea was to make the smoker more comfortable when they quit. Because it was sporadically successful and there was a chemical involved the leap was made that hypnosis worked on the chemical addiction to nicotine. But, for as long as you have heard of hypnosis as a stop-smoking treatment, have you heard of hypnosis being used for other types of drug dependence? Have you heard it used for heroine, morphine, cocaine, opium, or alcohol? No, I don't think so and for good reason. There isn't much hypnosis can do as a direct treatment for the chemically challenged. Yet, it was occasionally, remarkably successful with helping smokers.

How does hypnosis do it?

I didn't understand what hypnosis was doing 30 years ago either. How could hypnosis work for one drug dependency and not for any other? I'll bet you can guess the answer if you read my other pages. It wasn't working on the chemical addiction. Hypnosis works for smokers because to works on the HABIT.

From the beginning, everybody thought the problem with quitting smoking was the chemical dependence on nicotine and thus anything that helped the smoker must have dealt with the chemical. It made sense and still does to many. But, it's the habit that hypnosis can help with, but only if you use it for that purpose. Many hypnotists still think they are doing something for a chemical addiction. I can't account for how other hypnotists use hypnosis, I can only tell you how I use hypnosis and hope that it makes perfect sense to you. If you use hypnosis to help with the habit part of smoking, you reduce the withdrawal symptoms, you become comfortable in your old smoking haunts, you don't gain weight and you won't be a grouch when you quit.

What exactly is hypnosis and can anybody be hypnotized?

Despite what you may have seen on TV or the moves, hypnosis is a very natural process that involves nothing more than duplicating the steps everyone takes on their way to sleep every night. It's not scary or spooky and doesn't' require a pocket watch. Hypnosis is very relaxing and is actually quit harmless. You don't have to take my word for it, that it's a safe procedure, just use you own experience. Have you ever heard on the six o'clock news or in the news paper of a hypnotist anywhere sending his or her clients out to do dastardly deeds? No!

We see that kind of stuff in the movies but not in real life. Hypnosis is basically a relaxation technique similar in many ways to meditation, that can help get information into the automatic part of the mind. If the information is recognizable, it is more likely the mind will run with it. That recognition factor is why you have also heard that you won't do anything under hypnosis that you wouldn't ordinarily do.

Is hypnosis just for dummies?

The idea that simple minded people are easier to hypnotize or that the dumber you are the easier it is to fool you with hypnosis is not true. Actually the exact opposite is true. The smarter you are, the easier it is to work with you. I saw this early in my career doing research projects where we used college students as guinea pigs and the brightest were often our best subjects. Smart folks usually understand and follow directions better and that seems to be part of the reason some people take to hypnosis more quickly.

How does hypnosis work for smoking?

Essentially, with smoking, you are helping the habit go dormant. That's what would happen naturally over time. You know, if you just quit and didn't touch a cigarette, the habit would eventually become inactive. This process according to behavioral experts usually takes months (two to five months). With hypnosis, the process happens quicker. SPEED is why you come to the hypnotist. Hypnosis has also been a good alternative treatment in pain control for many years and you can take advantage of that also in easing or eliminating the withdrawal symptoms. You can say that hypnosis speeds up the normal, natural process of quitting, and helps with your comfort too.

Can you get the Palmer Program any where else? NO!

Other hypnotist don't use hypnosis the way I do. Many still believe they are doing something to alleviate nicotine dependence and some of the hypnosis literature still describes the use of hypnosis in just that way. My hypnosis process is of my own creation with over thirty years of expertise behind it and that's a big reason why you can't get this procedure anywhere else. What and why I use hypnosis has never been a secret, how I work my magic with hypnosis is. It's not only the hypnosis that is unique to my program, I developed a subliminal messaging technique that no one else has and a music program specifically designed to enhance the hypnosis experience. Only at the Palmer Clinic!

But I've been hypnotized before.

If you have tried hypnosis before and it didn't work, try again. Some people take to it quickly, but most need some practice at it. It's long been an ego thing among hypnotists to claim first time success. Instant results are wonderful when they happen but not always realistic. I have always had a program that takes my clients through hypnosis twice in the same session. I frequently hear how the second time was much easier and more comfortable than the first and it's because my clients found out what hypnosis wasn't the first time. I also have had in my literature for years that I have seen the process take from one to three sessions to quit. That's realistic.

I still enjoy working with my smokers.

My apologies to those who don't live in the Chicago area, until I retire, I still insist on working directly with my smoking clients.

I do offer my "Secrets to Quitting" seminar on a CD that doesn't use hypnosis. I have conducted hundreds of seminars on how to quit smoking using my behavioral approach without using hypnosis. It's a perfect companion for anyone who recognizes smoking as a behavioral problem and wants to have the best chance of quitting successfully. I take you through all the steps of how to quit. $39.95 plus S&H (see Order Form)

If you are considering coming in for a session, please read the Short Story or The Full Story of why I believe smoking is a habit problem. If you have questions, call me. I'm always happy to answer questions. I like my clients to know what to expect. This is not a program for dummies, the more you know, the easier it is to work with you.

Special Note: For your protection and mine, all hypnosis sessions are video taped.

Appointments: Call 708-233-1111

Palmer Smoking Clinic

9748 S. Roberts Road

Palos Hills IL. 60465