Does Hypnosis Work for Stop Smoking?

For a while now,hypnosis has been bandied as the all-in-all solution for weight loss,alcohol addiction,stop smoking,pain and stress relief as well as many others. Hypnotists claim stop smoking hypnotherapy has a 90.6% Success Rate. In this article,we shall look at the effectiveness of quit smoking hypnosis as well as its shortfalls.

The goal of stop smoking hypnotherapy and other forms of counseling is to remove the motives that make people want to return to smoking but the problem with most forms of therapy (including but not limited to hypnosis) is that smokers choose to return to smoking.

So,how effective is quit smoking hypnosis? A study published in the International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis reveals that stop smoking hypnotherapy is 40% effective after 8 visits. Yet another study concluded that hypnosis patients were twice as likely to remain smoke-free after two years. 

While another research confirms hypnosis to be 3 times as effective as the patch and 15 times as effective as willpower,yet another records an 81% success rate after hypnosis for smoking cessation.

Before the 81% success rate was arrived at,the study authors (Elkins GR and Rajab MH) said 30 smokers registered in an HMO (they were referred by their primary physician for treatment). 21 patients returned after an initial consultation and received hypnosis for quit smoking. At the end of treatment, 81% of those patients claimed that they had ceased smoking, and 48% reported abstinence 1 year after treatment. 

 

All these seem to be cheery news about hypnosis for smoking cessation but there is a study which disagrees with all of the claims above.

It says hypnosis for stop smoking still needs to be researched to confirm its suitability for use. The research, published in the May,2000 edition of International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis,warns smokers who want to drop off cigarettes with hypnosis to watch their back.

This research,which was spearheaded by Joseph P. Green, associate professor of psychology at Ohio State University's Lima campus and Steven Jay Lynn, of the State University of New York at Binghamton, looked at 56 studies of hypnosis and stop smoking to find out if the studies back hypnosis as an intervention method.

The study concluded that while smokers who undergo hypnosis could abstain from smoking, it was hard to know if hypnosis had any benefit above treatments like behavior modification – which really helps smokers desirous to quit. 

 

While stating that it was too early to okay hypnosis as a generally recognized and accepted stop smoking treatment, the study noted that most times, hypnosis is packaged alongside other treatments, and this makes it very hard to find out which singular therapy got the smoker to quit smoking.

It also noted the fact that hypnotic procedures are largely non- standardized and that there is very little reason to accept that hypnosis is more effective than other stop smoking treatments like self-help therapy, using nicotine replacement therapies, taking medication, acupuncture, as well as individual and group counseling. As a result, smokers who want to quit should be shown a variety of possibly effective treatments and left to make their own choice.

The long and short of it is that even though hypnosis works for smoking cessation,smokers desirous to quit with it should tread with a lot of caution.

Iyabo Oyawale runs http://2stopsmokingtips.com, a highly successful blog that has helped many people quit smoking. She brings 10 years hand-on research on smoking cessation to bear on her blog. Visit her blog to download her free stop smoking guide now!