Hypnosis for smoking cessation

Domain VI · Brief, integrative, trauma, hypnosis & coaching

What it is

Hypnosis for smoking cessation is not one manualised therapy. It is a family of brief protocols that use hypnotic suggestion and imagery as one part of a quit attempt. The main sources share a core idea of how change happens. A motivated smoker sets a firm quit date. In hypnosis the clinician links…

Format

• Format options:
• Two-session standard (followed here): two 60-minute sessions, then three or four 20-minute phone calls. In Carmody 2017 the calls were twice a week. Nicotine patches were given for about two months in both arms of Carmody 2008. Winning Edge also uses two treatment sessions, delivered to groups or…

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Scope of this guide: it covers clinical hypnosis delivered by licensed health professionals within their competence, as an add-on to evidence-based cessation care. That care means behavioural support plus stop-smoking medication assessed and prescribed by a medical prescriber, and no medication dosing is given here. A Colombian psychiatric review of 51 studies also recommends combining nicotine replacement,…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Does it involve fasting, a special diet or 'detox'? Have you discussed this with your doctor?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• Generic praise falls flat. Use the client's own examples.
• A low scorer feeling hopeless. Stress that most of the work is behavioural.
• Unsupportive or smoking household members. Plan responses to them explicitly.
• Envy or longing coming up. Treat this as material for session 2, not as failure.
• Plans that are vague. Each high-risk situation needs a specific, rehearsed response.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.