Smoking Cessation: Dying for a fag.

I had a really good look at a cigarette pack just a few days ago, when a client attending for Smoking Cessation, brought along a pack to use as part of the therapy session. The pack itself was a metallic colour suggesting sleek sophistication; being "adult" etc. It was simply decorated with an image, abe simple text box edged in black for "Smoking kills", and a Contents panel listing just 3 chemicals, as opposed to the hundreds...

As a non-smoker I found the image chosen to be quite shocking: a loaded syringe with the contents coloured white and brown just like a cigarette - a clear image, in my mind, associating cigarettes with hard drug taking. The message with it gave the advice "..., don't start", but putting it on the pack of cigarettes was always going to fail as the audience reading it would already be smokers.
So why do smokers start and then get hooked so quickly?

Well, no-one is born a smoker - it is a learned habit, often started as a teenager and heavily influenced by the peer group.  Once hooked it becomes difficult to stop, because it becomes part of normal behaviour and can often be the key to being accepted ( and we all know how important it is for teenagers to be  part of a group). It is a social prop to give confidence or to provide something to keep hands occupied in a new or difficult situation.

The shocking image and stark statement "Smoking Kills" had absolutely no impact on my client, and yet he could tell me all about the dangers of smoking, and he knew the financial implications of his habit. In his head he just did not associate what he was doing, with what the cigarettes were doing to him.

Hypnotherapy is highly effective for smoking cessation, as the therapist spends a significant amount of the session building rapport with the client, listening to their language patterns and noting information which could be useful in the therapy session.  Of course it is possible to buy hypno tapes for smoking cessation, but as everyone is different, these tapes take a very broad approach and lack the specific detail that makes the therapy unique to the client.

If you, or someone you know, is ready to return to being a non-smoker, but need help and support, then please visit my website for details and contact me via the Contact Page, my email, by text or by phonecall.

Within a day your body will start to rebuild itself and the health benefits will just keep on going.

Remember that you were not born a smoker - so why would you want to die as one?