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Hypnotherapy in Bristol and Taunton to quit smoking

• Issues overview

• Emotions

• Confidence and self-esteem 1 - From self-doubt to self-belief
• Confidence and self-esteem 2 - How much do you like yourself? - a self-esteem test
• Confidence and self-esteem 3 - What causes low self-esteem?
• Confidence and self-esteem 4 - How everday-confident are you? - a quiz
• Depression 1 - How to overcome depression - key facts
• Depression 2 - The causes of depression of psychological origin
• Depression 3 - Therapy or anti-depressants?
• Depression 4 - Are you depressed? - a self-test
• Fertility and IVF
• Fertility and IVF - the evidence base
• Keys for transforming emotions
• Weight and eating 1 - Weight loss
• Weight and eating 2 - Bingeing and emotional eating
• Weight and eating 3 - "Have you got an eating disorder?" - a test

• Hypnotherapy

• Driving anxiety
• Driving anxiety - the RAC research
• Fear of flying
• Fear of flying - reassuring facts
• Fears and phobias
• IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome)
• IBS symptoms
• Insomnia
• Insomnia - great tips for a good night's sleep
• Panic attacks
• Smoking - quit forever with the right type of hypnosis
• Smoking - the truth behind bogus "85% success rate" claims
• Stress
• Stress - a test: is this you?

• Relationships

• Relationship counselling

How to quit smoking FOREVER

Hypnosis is the best and easiest way to give up smoking. But you need to choose the right type of hypnosis, and this page will tall you how. Because those claims of "quit smoking with hypnotherapy - 85% success in a single hour - guaranteed!" are not real. T he long-term success rate of high-speed, one-size-fits-all programmes is on average around 30% . (See what commercial stop-smoking clinics don't want you to know )

Some smokers hate smoking and don't enjoy it at all; many others really enjoy it or are using smoking as a self-medication to deal with stress or emotional conflict. For yet others it is a habit which has lasted daily for 40 or 50 years. You wouldn't expect an addiction to cocaine, gambling or the internet to guaranteeably vanish in a single session; no more will smoking. I have worked with smokers in depth, and they are form spectrum. Some quit very easily, some with more effort.

As a result, I treat smoking as an issue like any other. It takes as long as it takes. Often it is quick, sometimes not. No matter how long it takes you personally, the research does show that a well-designed hypnosis programme is the best qay to quit - better than patches, for example, which have a one-year failure rate of 85% - 90%.

For permanent long-term success, what works is a high-quality, individualised quitting programme.

If you sincerely want to quit smoking FOREVER, then this behind-the-scenes quide will tell you:

• My individually tailored approach to help you quit
• The psychological secrets of stopping smoking successfully
• Why "Quit smoking! - guaranteed 85% success" claims can be very, very misleading
• How some stop-smoking clinics artificially inflate their success

How to quit PERMANENTLY

To me, the only approach to quitting smoking which has reality and integrity it to treat it as an issue just like any other, which often resolves quickly but in general takes as long as it takes.

From studying what people really need to quit smoking , I've developed a flexible approach which goes rapidly for those who are on the brink of quitting, yet gives the maximum support to those who first need to get ready.

The first (two-hour) session is a setup session and the main hypnosis is at the second session (1.5 hours). You continue to smoke up to the second session. My experience is that many people quit at this point, and almost everyone will achieve a 90% - 95% reduction in smoking. Support is important to long-term success, so we then discuss what followup you may need (eg optional pre-paid telephone support). Otherwise I just treat the addiction like any other addiction and continue until it resolves.

There some very simple exercises in between the first and second sessions, while you continue to smoke. When you can do these easily (and they are indeed very simple), you know in your guts that you are ready to stop. For many people that takes only a single week and they quit forever in just two sessions. This includes many people who really feel quitting is impossible.

It is important to me to be honest in my claims. So I do not want to pretend that quitting is easy for everyone. It's not! Some people are really addicted and find quitting very hard. That's just real. But the vast majority of smokers simply imagine quitting will be very hard. And they are delighted and amazed at how easy it turns out to be.

My approach is based on research results that hypnosis quitting methods with the highest 12-month success - well over 80% -

• are multi-session,
• individualised to each unique smoker, not one-size-fits-all
• incorporate behavioural tools (as in CBT) as well as hypnosis
• work with beliefs and self-talk (again as in CBT)
• make the person giving up an active, not a passive, partner in the process

If you are ready to do whatever it takes to break free from smoking FOREVER, call me now on 0845-351-0604. Leave a message (24 hours) and I'll call you back.

Remember, I offer a money-back assurance on my first session for all issues (if you don't think the work is right for you, there's nothing to pay.) So you are welcome to come to the first (non-hypnosis) pre-quitting session and if my approach isn't for you, then - no charge! [Terms and conditions]

The psychology of quitting smoking

I don't just sit people down, hypnotise them, and send them away. That works short term with many people, but it fails long-term with the majority. I've worked with smokers in depth, and what follows is what they've shown me they need to quit easily and permanently. My life-change tools can profoundly empower you in each one of these areas. Though the list is long, with the right approach it can be very quick to achieve. You too can be delighted to be a happy, contented ex-smoker.

1. You have to understand that smoking is overwhelmingly a psychological habit. You have to accept responsibility for breaking that habit. As the director of Action on Smoking and Health is reported to have said, "Smokers have to be psychologically prepared to quit."
   
   (That's why smokers who rely instead on patches have up to 90% failure rate after 12 months.)
   
   
2. You have to believe in your guts that quitting makes a real, vital difference to your life. Quitting can't be just a neat idea. You have to be motivated and committed to it. I help you achieve that motivation.
   
   
3. You have to believe you can quit. Some people believe they are attempting the impossible. But as Henry Ford said 'Whether you say "I can" or "I can't", you are right.' You have to know before you quit that quitting is possible. With my approach, you know you can do it before you quit.
   
   
4. You have to be free from fear. Smokers are typically terrified of quitting, convinced they are condemned to a lifetime of deprivation. You have to know that that isn't so. Quitting needs to be a relief, not a torture.
   
   
5. You need to dissolve the horrible "will-power" fight which smokers get into. That's where one part of you says "I neeeeeed a cigarette" and another part says "No! it's unhealthy! you mustn't!" This fight is just painful, and the "bad" side always wins in the end. I use very advanced exercises which help dissolve that fight.
   
   
6. You have to play an active role in quitting. When quitting is done for you, it's easy to relapse. That's why I give you some very simple and easy exercises to do.
   
   
7. You have to be honest that smoking MAY be doing something for you that you value. You have to be willing to confront that. Of course, almost all smokers imagine they "need" to smoke to deal with stress, and I don't take this drug-fuelled delusion seriously.
   But a few really are using cigarettes to cope with stress, sadness, anger or depression. These "self-medicating" smokers first need better strategies to deal with those emotions before they quit.
   
   
8. A few smokers have unique reasons for smoking. For some, it is part of their core identity: "People like me smoke." These are often people who were very rebellious as teenagers, and the act of smoking, now increasingly deviant, is a statement to society and the opposite sex that "I'm one of the wild ones, you can't control me." And a (very few) smokers smoke out of self-destruction. These factors are not common, but can't possibly be addressed in a scripted one-hour quit smoking session. My method is tailored from the start to you as a unique individual.
   
   
9. You need to forgive yourself for the damage you fear you may have done to your health.
   A few smokers get into a cycle like this:
   (i) They have a cigarette
   (ii) They think of quitting
   (iii) That makes them think of the health damage they fear they have done
   (iv) They get so afraid and anxious that
   (v) They need another cigarette to avoid thinking about it all!
   When you forgive yourself, you can face reality calmly and do what is needed - quit forever.
   Remember: NO MATTER when you quit, the statistics show you are adding healthy years to your life.
   Also, you need to face up to, and resolve, any inner conflict whereby one part of you wants to stop, and another doesn't. Some smokers hate the fact that they smoke. But hating it and being ready to quit are not the same thing.
   
   
10. Once all that is in place (and it may well not take long at all) then you are ready to stop. Yet there is one last fight. You sincerely want to quit - but find you can't! You just … keep … on … smoking. This is where hypnosis is so powerful. The miracle of hypnosis helps align your conscious decision mind with your unconscious habit-mind. And you have quit - quickly, easily, with the deep conviction that you will never go back. You've quit FOREVER.

If you are ready to do the bit extra that it takes to have the best chance of breaking free from smoking FOREVER, call me now on 0845-351-0604. Leave a message (24 hours) and I'll call you back.

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See here for fees, schedule, and money-back assurance for the first session, here for what makes the type of brief therapy and hypnosis which I do different.

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Keep smiling, nobody's going to die.

Gung-ho sign-off in a letter to Benson and Hedges Cigarettes brand manager Lesley Stears, from advertising agency executive Simon North,
5 September 1995.