Studies Prove Hypnotherapy Effective for Smoking Cessation

90.7% Successfully Quit Smoking Through Hypnotherapy

Freedom From Smoking: Integrating Hypnotic Methods and Rapid Smoking to Facilitate Smoking Cessation.
Results: This study recruited 43 subjects who wished to quit smoking. The researchers combined hypnotic techniques and found that 39 subjects (90.7%) reported that they remained smoke-free 6 months after the treatment. The following reasons are given for using hypnosis:
a. clarify and heighten patient’s awareness of his/her motivation to stop smoking;
b. ego-strengthening to inspire new behavior;
c. ease the physical and mental effects of smoking withdrawal;
d. encourage a general increase in daily activity
Int J Clin Exp Hypn. 2001 Jul;49(3):257-66
By: J. Baber, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington

Hypnosis for Smoking Three Times More Effective Than Nicotine Gum and Five Times More Effective Than Willpower Alone

A Meta-Analytic Comparison of the Effectiveness of Smoking Cessation Methods.
Results: Researchers found that among of all of the techniques used, hypnosis was the most effective. They found that a single session of hypnosis was three times more effective than the nicotine gum and five times more effective then willpower alone (willpower was 6%; nicotine gum was 10% and a single hypnosis session was 30%).
Notes: The Institute of Actuaries (in the US) commissioned the largest study ever done on smoking cessation. It statistically analyzed the results of 633 smoking cessation studies involving 71,806 participants.
Journal of Applied Psychology. Vol 77(4), Aug 1992, 554-561
By: C. Viswesvaran, F. L. Schmidt, Department of Management and Organizations, University of Iowa, Iowa City 52242

81% Stopped Smoking Through Hypnosis After 3 Sessions

Clinical Hypnosis for Smoking Cessation: Preliminary Results of a Three-Session Intervention.
Results: At the end of the three-session program 17 of the initial 21 subjects (81%) reported that they had stopped smoking. A 12-month follow-up revealed that 10 of them (48%) remained smoke-free.
Notes: Twenty-one smokers who were referred to this study by their physicians for medical reasons, received three smoking cessation hypnosis sessions. All patients reported having failed in previous unassisted attempts to stop smoking. The clinical-treatment protocol included three sessions. The first session was the initial consultation and did not include a hypnotic induction. Sessions 2 and 3 involved individually adapted hypnotic suggestions and an individual therapeutic relationship with each patient. Each patient was also provided with a cassette tape recording of a hypnotic induction with direct suggestions for relaxation and a feeling of comfort. The patients were seen biweekly for treatment.
Int J Clin Exp Hypn. 2004 , Jan;52(1):73-81
By: G. R. Elkins, M. H. Rajab, Texas A&M University’s Health Science Center

Personalized Approach with Hypnosis Proves Effective for Smoking Cessation

Smoking and hypnosis: A systematic clinical approach
Results: 2 methods of helping cigarette smokers stop smoking were compared in treating a total of 181 patients. After 6 months, 60% of those treated with an active, personalized approach were not smoking. This approach emphasized: (a) the feedback, under hypnosis, of the patient’s own reasons for quitting, (b) maintaining contact with the patient by telephone, (c) use of meditation during hypnosis to obtain individualized motives, and (d) Self-hypnosis. Only 25% of smokers were successfully treated by an earlier hypnotic procedure that did not systematically employ these features.
International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, Volume 18, Issue 4, 1970
By: William Nulanda, Morton Prince Clinic for Hypnotherapy and Peter B. Field, Veterans Administration Hospital, Brooklyn & Morton Prince Clinic for Hypnotherapy