From Frogtown to Radtown

“I left and went straight to the bar, got drunk and gave away my half of pack of cigarettes,” said Jamie Donohoe

Why would anyone give away cigarettes especially after being intoxicated? Donohoe did because she found a cure for the addiction to cigarettes and nicotine. For less than $100 and about two hours of relaxation, she quit smoking cigarettes.

Hypnotism is a recognized and accepted form of medicine that is growing strong all over the country. Hypnotism or hypnotherapy has numerous myths and misconceptions that may include a dangling watch or ridiculous stunts, such as clucking like a chicken when a doorbell rings.

In reality, hypnotism and hypnotherapy is very controlled. Moreover, the experience is controlled only ten percent by the hypnotist leaving most of the experience up to the patient.

“It’s important to tell him everything, he’ll ask you questions, like when do you most need a cigarette?” said Donohoe.

Being honest with the hypnotist can help a patient solve a variety of problems, or life stresses including but definitely not limited to smoking cessation, weight management, and anxiety.

According to Michael McGee, LPC, MHt, and member of the International Medical and Dental Hypnotherapy Association, hypnosis connects us to our inner selves in a space between sleeping and being fully awake. While in this state the hypnotist can aid in relaxation while increasing awareness.

Once the patient is in this relaxed state he will then start to receive positive thoughts that were predetermined between the patient and hypnotist to reach the goal of the patient. In the case of Jamie Donohoe it was the goal of complete smoking cessation.

Donohoe was reminded of her own reasons for wanting to quit smoking, told she had the power to do it herself, she was then told to envision her life without cigarettes and then told to relax whenever she thought about, saw or heard anything about a blue rose. This relaxation will allow her to manage her own stress of smoking cessation.

McGee chose the image of a blue rose because it is an object that will most likely not be seen or talked about. This rose is a symbol for the brain to switch from “give me a cigarette now” to “I’m relaxed”.

“It’s like changing the channels on a TV,” said McGee.

After thirty minutes to an hour of relaxed awareness and positive thought reinforcement provided by the hypnotist, the patient is woken out of that in between state.

“After that I felt like I had just slept eight hours,” said Bryan Hawkes. Hawkes saw the same hypnotist as Donohoe and is hoping to achieve the same great results as her.

Donohoe and Hawkes both saw McGee for one session and had dramatic results. Donohoe had only been smoking for a couple of years on and off and felt she needed the final push to quit for good. It is now four months after her one-time, ninety minute session ,and she has yet to touch a cigarette.

Hawkes has been a smoker for almost a full decade and smoked an entire pack of cigarettes every day and, while he has only been a non-smoker for three days since his session, those three days are a lot more relaxed than any other time he has tried to quit.

“I tried the patch, I’ve tried cold turkey and I’ve tried just cutting back, oh yeah I tried the gum and none of that crap worked at all and with the patch I still had nicotine in me everyday so it was pretty pointless and they didn’t work anyway,” said Hawkes.

Quitting smoking for good has many positive results such as ease of breathing, less coughing, less bronchitis, feeling healthier overall, easier to get a good sleep and wake up habit.

Quitting smoking even for someone such as Hawkes who has smoked for nearly a decade can have immediate and long lasting results.

Within a month Hawkes will be reducing the amount of phlegm in his body due to increased coughing but by the end of one year without smoking Hawkes will be similar to a non-smoker in his lungs and heart, lowering his risk for lung/heart disease or cancer.

According to International Medical and Dental Hypnotherapy Association most smokers try an average of four times to quit before it is successful. Perhaps that is because they are not actually doing it themselves. The patch, the gum and other forms of stop-smoking aids leave the patient out of the process, which is a recipe for disaster. Cold turkey quitting is unrealistic because the patient must actually believe that they can do it.

Through hypnotism, the quitter/patient is almost in complete control of the entire experience and therefore is quitting completely on his/her own. The only real job the hypnotist has is to get the patient and their subconscious on the same page.

Once there the hypnotist fills it with his or her own words and information to achieve the desired result and reach the goal. The patient is in control.