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Some Frequently Asked Questions
Who Will Set The Goal For The Work We Will Do? Smoking holds the potential for generating a broad range of negative consequences. Recognizing the actual or potential seriousness of some of those consequences, you may be inclined to modify your smoking in one of two ways. On the one hand, you might opt to become smoke-free as soon as possible. On the other hand, you may prefer to significantly reduce the amount you smoke at this time with the intention of making a further effort to become completely smoke-free at a later date. The specific smoking-cessation related goal you and I will work toward is the goal you establish.
What Actually Takes Place In The Treatment Sessions? The structure of our efforts will reflect an appreciation of the numerous and complex reasons why any one smoker, most likely including yourself, lights up. Mirroring an appreciation of that complexity, the professional literature in the area of smoking cessation has, on the basis of a substantial amount of research, long recommended that multiple treatment techniques be utilized in cessation efforts rather than banking on the effectiveness of any one approach. With that in mind, and regardless of the particular goal you set, a two-tiered approach will be employed. Not surprisingly, the initial focus of our efforts will be on your smoking behavior per se. The first session will be approximately an hour and a half in length. During the first 45 minutes of that session, we will talk about your smoking history and related matters such as the perceived importance of cigarettes in your life, life circumstances which have become associated with your smoking, your reasons for wanting to become smoke-free at this time, what efforts, if any, you have made to achieve that goal, etc. The second half of that session is spent on hypnosis per se. Some of that time will be utilized in teaching you self-hypnotic techniques that you will be able to employ afterwards on your own. It is likely that after the first session, you will either be smoke-free/closer to your goal or feel considerably more in control of your smoking behavior than you had felt previously. Subsequent sessions will be 45" in length. Sessions two through four will focus on those situations in your life that you continue to find challenging to cope with without lighting up. In these sessions, the primary treatment approach will be a combination of hypnotically-augmented suggestions together with cognitive-behavior therapy. If, despite the best of our combined efforts, you have not achieved your goal by session number four, it is my belief that:
How Many Sessions Will It Take To Reach My Goal? That is an easy and understandable question to ask though a much more complex one to answer. As a guideline, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have taken the following general position: "The more intense the treatment, the more effective it is in producing long-term abstinence from tobacco." Aside from recognizing that smoking is, in part, a response to the physiologically addictive nature of nicotine, lighting-up has likely become psychologically addictive to you as well, i.e. an important and predictable element in your effort to cope with the emotionally challenging aspects of your life. It would not surprise me if among your first inclinations when faced with anxiety, depression, anger, loneliness, etc. is to reach for a cigarette. That creates a bind for you insofar as you’re interested at the same time in altering or eliminating your smoking behavior. Recognizing that, while your long-term goal may be the achievement of smoking cessation or a significant reduction in the amount you smoke, the pace at which you move toward that goal would reflect: (1) the importance of smoking to you in the coping process, (2) your openness to leaving that particular approach to coping with the emotional stress in your life behind and (3) your openness to accepting the challenge of dealing with the emotional demands of your life in new and less harmful ways.
How Does Hypnosis Work? While considerable thought has been, and continues to be, given to this question, clinicians and researchers generally agree that hypnosis is a complex process and, not surprisingly, there is no one explanation that fully accounts for all facets of it. One view, however, that I have found particularly helpful in my work with people wanting to become smoke free is as follows: During the course of a day, it would not be at all unusual if you were to have experiences that result in your feeling emotionally uncomfortable, for example, becoming stressed, anxious, depressed, frustrated, angry, etc.. Given that state of affairs, it is quite understandable - quite human - to attempt to reduce the discomfort. While, in a general sense, there are many potentially adaptive and health-affirming responses available to you, over time, and probably for a variety of reasons, you have, to a greater or lesser degree, become prone to responding to these situations in a particularly health-detracting manner - that is, picking up a cigarette and lighting up. With that as a background, the focus of our efforts, then, becomes to both (1) help free you from that habitual manner of responding to those troublesome situations and (2) assist you in discovering alternative, personally satisfying, adaptive and health-enhancing responses. Hypnotic trances can be very helpful in both instances. Through the use of an hypnotic trance, you will be aided in temporarily setting aside your involvement in the very logical, rational and, unfortunately, uncreative/thought-limiting outer world we live in and become more aware of your unconscious. The value of doing so is that your unconscious is a vast data bank of possible responses to any and all situations. As important, it is not ruled by the rational guidelines that govern your manifest behavior on a daily basis. The unconscious is extremely flexible, extremely creative. By becoming aware of the huge number of potentially innovative responses available to you when finding yourself in the discomfort-generating situations, you are likely to discover an alternative response - a response that is personally satisfying, adaptive and health-enhancing. Moreover, when in a trance state, in addition to becoming increasingly aware of your own unconscious ideas, it is likely that you will also find yourself somewhat more open to the supportive, health enhancing ideas I will be pleased to suggest.
I Have Never Been Hypnotized. What Does It Feel Like To Be In A Trance? The experience of being in a trance is actually quite similar to experiences you have each and every day. For example, on any given day, you, undoubtedly, have to take care of some relatively monotonous task, perhaps a substantial amount of paper work, taking a long drive on a highway, etc.. While paying sufficient attention to the task, you shift some of your attention to other aspects of your life that are more interesting or important. You "daydream." Those other thoughts are often quite involving. Because, however, of the nature of your primary objective, i.e. your desire to drive safely / to accurately and efficiently complete the paper work, you, out of necessity, typically choose to limit the amount of attention you devote to these other areas of interest. The hypnotic treatment situation, however, is somewhat different. There will be no such external demands. As a consequence, you will not feel a need, nor will there be a need, to be attentive to the world around you. You will be seated on a comfortable couch in a softly-lit, quiet, carpeted office. In that surrounding, you will be able to immerse yourself, as deeply as you desire, in your own thoughts and feelings. Being relieved of these external concerns, most people, in fact, find hypnosis sessions particularly relaxing and often feel quite refreshed afterwards.
Will You Put Me To Sleep? No - you will not be put to sleep. The question, however, is quite understandable in that, to the uninformed observer, while you are in an hypnotic trance you will certainly appear as though you are asleep. Your eyes will, most likely, be closed, your breathing will have slowed down considerably, your head, given your general state of relaxation as well as the absence of a need to maintain any given posture, may tilt one way or another into a comfortable, resting position. However, that's where the similarity between sleeping and trance states ends. If we were to do an electroencephalogram (brain wave test) on you while you are in a trance, we would see that your brain waves at that time are similar to those of a person who is actually quite alert. You will not be asleep. "How could that be?" Well, keep in mind that all that is visible to the observer is that you are not attending, to any major degree, to the visual world beyond yourself. What would not be as evident is that you are deeply and contentedly immersed in your own thoughts and feelings and feel disinterested, for the time being, in your surroundings. Of course, anytime, and for whatever reason, you want to open your eyes, you will be able to do so easily. Most folks, however, given both the depth of their involvement in their own thoughts and feelings as well as the state of relaxation they are in, choose to allow their eyes to remain closed. I expect you will want to do so too.
I Have Seen Stage Hypnotists Perform. They Make Their Subjects Look Like Fools. I Hope That Doesn't Happen To Me. I assure you it won't. You will not be humiliated nor will you do anything that you will subsequently regret. Rather, you will leave after our meeting with your self-esteem very much intact. In fact, it's likely you will feel even better about yourself given the greater degree of control you will have over your life. Please keep in mind that my primary interest, as reflected in my pledge to uphold the ethical principles and guidelines for practice of both the American Psychological Association and the New York State Psychological Association, and in a manner consistent with my responsibilities both as Volunteer Chairman of the Tobacco Control Core Group of the American Cancer Society's New York City Division and the Manhattan Psychological Association's Representative to the New York State Commission for a Healthy New York, is the enhancement of your well-being.
I Know That Hypnosis Has A Long History Of Being Particularly Effective In Helping People To Stop Smoking. In What Other Ways Might Hypnosis Be Helpful To Me? While having an extensive history, going back to the 1700s according to some accounts and even many years before that according to others, the science and practice of hypnosis continues to evolve by leaps and bounds. New insights into the nature of the process and new fields of application regularly appear in the two major journals in the field, the International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis and the American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis. Some of these applications may be of particular interest and of significant potential value to you, members of your family, friends or associates. Among the many possible examples that could be cited, hypnosis has been recognized as playing an important role in the treatment of: Anxiety reactions Cancer Cardiac conditions Dental conditions - including dental anxiety, TMJ Disease Diabetes Dermatological disorders - including warts, psoriasis Eating disorders Gynecological conditions - including menstrual disorders Insomnia Pain management Phobias Stress management Sexual dysfunctions Surgery patients
While My Smoking Habit Has Become An Increasing Concern To Me, There Are Other Troublesome Areas Of My Life That Have Been Very Much On My Mind. Would It Be Possible To Discuss Them With You As Well? Certainly! In fact, approximately half of the people I see in my practice are grappling with more general emotional problems such as loneliness, depression, instability in their relationships with others, frustrations in their professional lives, etc.. While I have extensive training in hypnosis, I have also been trained in psychotherapy and psychoanalysis at the New York University Postdoctoral Program. As a result, I am quite ready to help you with the emotional difficulties you are struggling with. jjtphd@smokefreedoc.com Home Perspectives on Smoking Cessation Some Frequently Asked Questions Your Smoking Cessation Challenge SmokeFree Clinical Updates Archives of the SmokeFree Clinical Updates Regarding Prepackaged "Advice" and "Tips" Links to Other Sites of Interest My Background and Practice Disclaimer |