Stop Smoking, Weight Loss, Stress Management and More With Hypnotherapy in London

The following was published on the 11th March 2005 and is reproduced here with the kind permission of the Watford Observer.

Dreaded by all smokers, National No Smoking Day is akin to a date with the taxman. The sheer thought of all the posters, adverts and campaigns strikes fear and disdain into the hearts of all the smokers I know. Everyone knows smoking is bad for you, and everyone knows it is expensive, but telling smokers these overused truths does nothing but encourage them to light up another cigarette. I should know, I’m one of them, or at least I was until Monday.

Cigarette packets tell you that SMOKING KILLS. Well of course it does, but smokers enjoy smoking. Telling them it kills is not a revolutionary finding. What do you expect them to say? “Really? “I never knew that. “I’ll give up now. Thanks.” I think it is pretty safe to say that most smokers would like to stop and all smokers know the harm they are doing to their body, but it is just not that easy.

Over the past six years, nearly half my smoking life, I have tried various methods of giving up. Strong patches gave me a headache, so I dropped to the medium ones and kept on smoking. Three years ago I paid £300 for hypnotherapy. I’ve given up for longer during a good night’s sleep. A month ago I bought a book recommended to me by several friends who have successfully kicked the habit, and I started reading it. It didn’t stop me lighting up, but it did reignite the idea in me that I really had to try to stop smoking. So when the opportunity arose at work to undergo hypnosis again as part of a feature on No Smoking Day, I was sceptical but optimistic that this time I would really kick the habit.

I made an appointment with Matt Jacobs, who trained as a Clinical Hypnotherapist with the London College of Clinical Hypnosis at Imperial College, London. It is important when looking for a hypnotherapist that you pick one that is fully accredited and trained, otherwise you can get stung for lots of money by someone not qualified to treat you. Find out whether they are a member of the British Society of Clinical Hypnosis. If they are, they will have had to fulfil stringent criteria to join and this is the best sign they are an established hypnotherapist abiding by a professional code of conduct.

So, after checking everything out and studying Matt’s website I threw away my ashtrays and lighters and smoked my last cigarette.

There are various methods of hypnosis. Matt uses a combination of hypnosis and Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP). This works by accessing your subconscious mind and removing the desire to smoke. Matt said: “Nicotine is not as addictive a drug as people may think. “I have yet to meet someone who wakes themselves up in the middle of the night simply to smoke or who is woken by nicotine cravings, as you would be if you were addicted to heroin. “People addicted to cigarettes only need one treatment, whereas people addicted to heroin or cocaine would need long-term treatment and support. It is the psychological dependency that keeps people smoking, and that is the part of the habit that I can treat."

Matt also allayed my fears about weeks of cravings and mood swings. My other big fear was not being able to go into a pub, or even sit down with a glass of wine in the evening, because basically everything I do goes hand in hand with smoking. He said: “All you have to do is arrive with the desire to stop smoking. “You will leave with no withdrawal symptoms or cravings. “You will find that you substitute nothing in place of cigarettes, therefore weight gain is not an issue either.” Incorporated into the session is a technique called anchoring. Anchoring works by asking the smoker to associate feelings of happiness or sadness with past experiences, so be prepared to bare your soul, if only to yourself.

In order for it to work you have to be completely open to what you are being told. Each treatment will vary depending on the person but Matt’s success rate is high and he has treated everyone from social smokers to those who smoke 40 a day. The key thing is that for hypnotherapy to work, you have to want it to.

So, since Monday I have been a non-smoker.

It has not been all plain-sailing – the first glass of wine after the hypnotherapy did instil an urge to light up, but I called Matt straight away and he talked me out of wanting the cigarette. He also said that anytime I felt the desire to smoke I could just call him. He said: “People pay me hard-earned money to stop smoking, the after-treatment support is all part of the service.” And the fact is, I haven’t smoked since Monday, and this time I am more determined than ever not to go back. Any pangs have been quickly and easily dealt with, and I feel better about myself to know that I am no longer controlled by a little white stick. As with anything, the will and the motivation have to be there in order to give up successfully, but I feel different now, and a lot more positive, than other times I have attempted to kick the habit. So fingers crossed – hypnotherapy will be the last thing I try.

For more information on the hypnosis services offered by Matt Jacobs
visit his website at www.londonhypnosis.com or telephone 0800 011 2513.