Getting people to quit smoking is given the top priority in the health services of nearly every country – but success rates for these programmes are usually poor. Often you see adverts saying “Double your chances with a Nicotine Patch” – but when your chance without the patch is just 5% or 6% - doubling that chance to 12% isn’t too brilliant. The latest drugs like Champix (proper name is Varenicline) show success of 22% at 12 months (however it was hyped in the press as 44% success… But that turned out to be at only 12 weeks - not 12 months!). And now there are some serious health concerns about Champix. Also it is likely that more studies will show that actual success rates are only 15% (did you know that drug companies only publish the reports of tests where something happened… if they got no result they don’t publish it. Infact right now a bunch of unpublished reports on anti-depressants are showing that they barely perform above placebo!)

Infact a recent study showed that a 4 year follow-up only showed 7.2% success for Nicotine gum & patches. That’s just 1.2% above using will power alone!

Stop smoking hypnosis and hypnotherapy treatments have shown consistently strong success rates in the range of 30% to 60% - and some as high as 88%.

However in lab controlled tests stop smoking hypnotherapy often doesn’t do so well… and that’s simply because the sort of controlled tests used for drugs don’t work for something like stop smoking hypnotherapy sessions – where the actual methods may vary dramatically from client to client. Simply put hypnosis for smoking is a complex and advanced application of hypnosis. Therapists need to be skilled and experienced in a whole toolbox of methods. Standard cookie cutter approaches (as often used in a well controlled and designed research experiment) won’t work across a range of clients.

Some clients need just one two hour session, some need three sessions. If you are thinking of stopping smoking with hypnotherapy then make sure the therapist uses a wide range of approaches and formats – and isn’t just taking your money, putting you under and reading a script.