Hypnosis to Quit Smoking - Does This Off the Wall Treatment Really Work?

Hypnosis to Quit Smoking - Does This Off the Wall Treatment Really Work?
Hypnotherapy has come a long way from the early days when Franz Anton Mesmer suspended his
patients in a tub filled with a mixture of fluids. His theory of 'animal magnetism', after a thorough
investigation, was considered quackery by the scientific community despite not arriving at any concrete
conclusions. However, almost a century later, one of the most successful surgeons in Scotland known
as James Braid used Mesmer's theory to pioneer the field of 'hypnotherapy' in the state that it exists
today. Now since, hypnotherapy works with the sole objective of altering the subject's emotion,
behavior and attitude, its areas of application extends as far as a method where a subject (in this case, a
smoker) undergoes hypnosis to quit smoking. Electric cigarette
Some folks might consider it to be a radical approach as compared to the cold turkey, nicotine patches
and gums as well as the e-cigarettes methods that are employed to help a smoker lose the habit. And
one can't help but wonder if it is a valid form of treatment apart from the e-cigarette concept that is
doing pretty well. So, as far as the statistics are concerned, almost 66% of the subjects that have
undergone this treatment have dropped the habit. But then again, one cannot determine whether it will
work in their situation or not.
Now, when it comes to the procedure, there are two ways by which this method is carried out namely,
self-hypnosis, hypnotherapy by a certified hypnotherapist or a combination of both, where the subject
is made to relax (no mystical trances or voodoo, if you will) while the subconscious is re-programmed
to imagine a life without smoking. With this 'altered' state of mind, one continues to live out this
'imagined reality' by avoiding cigarettes when they regain consciousness. It sounds simple enough, yet
the success of hypnosis to quit smoking hinges on one factor (as suggested by Braid himself):
suggestion. Electrical cigarette

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