I m frustrated with smoking-cessations

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Neil on November 7, 2009 at 5:58am

Fable got most of the points that prevent smokers from 'DECIDING' to quit!

Deciding is a process of going through all the options available, and coming up with the strongest choice.
No matter what crap a client throws at you, change that belief(excuse) into a "not an option for me" belief.

For example, if a client says he/she doesn't want on put on weight, there must a belief supporting the idea that weight will be increased.
Change that belief to: " it's ridiculous to believe you'll put on weight if you stop smoking".

If you can't change beliefs in a client, then you can't change a client.
We all act upon beliefs.

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Permalink Reply by James Hazlerig - HypnosisAustin on November 7, 2009 at 6:12am

I find that usually the smoker who fears weight gain has some reason for the belief--such as a relative who quit smoking and then ballooned out of control--and generally people will dig in their heels when told that their fears are ridiculous. (I even had a phobia client object to my calling her fear of bridges an "irrational fear," even though that is the definition of a phobia.)

So I explain to my clients during pre-talk: "One out of ten people who stop smoking do gain significant weight. Another three out of ten gain a pound or two. But of the remaining six, three stay the same, and three lose a few pounds. So statistically, your chances of losing weight are better than your chances of gaining, but we can do better than random chance. What makes the difference is the behavior, and I'm going to teach you easy strategies to keep you from being that one in ten who suffers, so that you can be smoke-free and slender. Doesn't that sound great?"

I then reinforce that during trance.

James

Neil said:

Fable got most of the points that prevent smokers from 'DECIDING' to quit!

Deciding is a process of going through all the options available, and coming up with the strongest choice.
No matter what crap a client throws at you, change that belief(excuse) into a "not an option for me" belief.

For example, if a client says he/she doesn't want on put on weight, there must a belief supporting the idea that weight will be increased.
Change that belief to: " it's ridiculous to believe you'll put on weight if you stop smoking".

If you can't change beliefs in a client, then you can't change a client.
We all act upon beliefs.

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Permalink Reply by William Wood on November 7, 2009 at 8:10am

The National Institute of Health shows that people that quit cold turkey without any kind of help but willpower alone have a one year abstinence rate of about three to seven percent. The most effective pharmaceutical interventions and combination of pharmaceutical interventions currently on the market currently have a one year quit rate of approximately 16-30 percent, depending on which intervention you are looking at specifically. The nature of addition is relapse. While I am sure that all of us can improve our techniques, if you are helping 40 percent of your clients stay quit for a year you are doing quite well.

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Permalink Reply by Neil on November 7, 2009 at 8:18am

You're good!

James Hazlerig said:

I find that usually the smoker who fears weight gain has some reason for the belief--such as a relative who quit smoking and then ballooned out of control--and generally people will dig in their heels when told that their fears are ridiculous. (I even had a phobia client object to my calling her fear of bridges an "irrational fear," even though that is the definition of a phobia.)

So I explain to my clients during pre-talk: "One out of ten people who stop smoking do gain significant weight. Another three out of ten gain a pound or two. But of the remaining six, three stay the same, and three lose a few pounds. So statistically, your chances of losing weight are better than your chances of gaining, but we can do better than random chance. What makes the difference is the behavior, and I'm going to teach you easy strategies to keep you from being that one in ten who suffers, so that you can be smoke-free and slender. Doesn't that sound great?"

I then reinforce that during trance.

James

Neil said:

Fable got most of the points that prevent smokers from 'DECIDING' to quit!

Deciding is a process of going through all the options available, and coming up with the strongest choice.
No matter what crap a client throws at you, change that belief(excuse) into a "not an option for me" belief.

For example, if a client says he/she doesn't want on put on weight, there must a belief supporting the idea that weight will be increased.
Change that belief to: " it's ridiculous to believe you'll put on weight if you stop smoking".

If you can't change beliefs in a client, then you can't change a client.
We all act upon beliefs.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Susan French on November 10, 2009 at 6:14am

This is great, Fable. I'm going to save this in my special Hypnothoughts folder.

Susan

Fable Goodman said:

I emphasise in the intial contact converstaion
that the most important thing is that the person make thier own
clear and commited decision
to be a non smoker.

Then hypnosis can help to make it a lot easier to stick to that decision.

When the client arrives,
I spend a good half hour,
and sometimes as much as an hour in the pre talk stage,
clarifying the decision,
and setting things up for success
before we even start with the official hypnosis session.



There are many ways a client can unawarely sabotage things,
and it is important to address these.

Many people make qualified decisions, like:
I will be a non smoker as long as 'xxxxx'
'I don't put on weight...'
'I dont get stressed out...'
'I don't get drunk..'
'people dont smoke around me..'
'it's easy'
'it works...'
(how many ways from your experience with clients can you finish the sentence?)

this decision equates to:
I am planning to start smoking again as soon as 'xxxxx'

If they are deciding to stop smoking,
as longs as
the hypnosis works.
then they have not decided to stop smoking,
they have decided to start smoking again
as soon as they imagine the hypnosis is not working well enough.

The responsibility is on the client
to make a clear commited decision
and stick to it regardless of anything and anybody,
including regardless of
how well the hypnosis appears to be working.
I will do all I can to enable this,
but I do not take responsibility for the decision.


The question of them being a non smoker
is then no longer an issue...
the only question left,
is how easy it will be from there on.

So success is 100%
for those who do what they have agreed.

How much easier it is than it would have been otherwise,
is something which is much harder to quantify,
as it is purely subjective.
But for most people
once they have made a clear and commited decision,
and then carry it out,
it automatically becomes much easier
than it would have been otherwise,
(with or without hypnosis).

The actual style of suggestions I use,
can be found elswwhere in other theads on this topic.

LOve and hugs,

Fable

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Permalink Reply by Susan French on November 10, 2009 at 6:19am

Thanks John. Also great suggestions. I'm going to save this one in my Hypnothoughts folder as well.
Susan

John Cleesattel said:

What makes my methods so successful is as follows:

I filter the clients on the front end, weeding out those that aren't ready to quit yet.
I prove the effectiveness of hypnosis to eliminate cravings to the client before the session ever starts
I have them come up with an alternative activity to smoking that will provide the same benefit as smoking did
I eliminate the triggers that make them reach for a cigarette without thinking about it
I have them go back to when they first started smoking and give the younger them a talking to, about what starting smoking did to them, then I give the younger them an opportunity for payback when I give them the job of reminding the client they don't smoke anymore whenever they even think about it.
I do some guided imagery taking them down a country road where they come to a line drawn across the road. Everything on their side and behind them is in black and white, everything on the other side of the line is bright and colorful. The line represents their decision to stop smoking. I end it all with a year guarantee. If for any reason they start smoking again, they can come back and I will do them again for free.

I hope this helps you
John

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Permalink Reply by Susan French on November 10, 2009 at 6:22am

So simple and yet so good. Thanks Cynthia. Great idea!
Susan

Cynthia Cameron said:

I find a good way to filter out those potential clients that are in the pre-contemplation phase is to ask all clients when they phone. "On a scale of 1-10, 10 being your highest desire to stop smoking and 1 being your least desire, where are you today?"

Anything from 6-10 I will see, anything below I ask them to convince me they are ready. Usually those below 6 will then say they are not quite ready.

Also I never mention the word Quit, from the moment they phone we refer to it as Stop Smoking and focus on what they will gain not lose.

Before they come to their first session I also ask the client to think of what they will do will all the money they will save from not smoking and will then weave that into future goal.

Hope this helps,

Cynthia Cameron, CHt
www.channelled.com.au

Duff McDuffee said:

I agree with John and Michael. The key to a higher success rate than about 40% with anything is filtering out clients who are in "pre-contemplation" phases--i.e. those who are not yet ready to change--as well as filtering out clients for which you just don't have good natural rapport by referring to other practitioners.

Are you familiar with the Motivational Interviewing model? If not, I recommend checking out books on the subject. There are good tips for helping clients move from not yet thinking about change to ready to change, which will also help to discover which clients are ready for your work.

In the end, there is only so much the therapist/coach can do to influence a client. Accepting this is one key to becoming a great practitioner!

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Permalink Reply by Susan French on November 10, 2009 at 6:26am

Aahh Michael,

What wonderful insight and so very helpful. I love your idea of a client (or ourselves) of "being stuck." This is exactly how I view all problems. I ask them or I ask myself for them "where are they stuck?" Once I've identified this, it's much easier to guide them out of being "stuck."

BTW: where do you have more about your Quantum Focusing ideas that Andreas was referring to? I know you have a course. Can you give us the link?

Thanks,

Susan

Michael Ellner said:

Hi Andreas,

As far as I know my success rate for helping smokers stop smoking is about 80% and I do not weed out clients. I find it is very helpful to help so-called difficult clients get unstuck before tackling their goals...


I view chronic conditions and addictive behaviors as stuck states. I assume that all of my clients really want to stop smoking, most are ready, and some are not able to at this time because they are locked into an unwanted behavior -- I get all of this during my intake/pre-talk...


When I sense a client is not quite ready, I explain that a big part of their problem is that human beings are not designed to digest food, sleep, heal or make changes when they are in survival modes and people with chronic symptoms and/or addictive behaviors like smoking are almost always living in these highly stressful states, most of the time
I have them imagine that their healing resources and/or ability to change are like the batteries in their cell phone. I remind them that they are bioengineered to heal and recharge, but only when they are well rested and properly nourished. I explain that as long as they are in stuck states they are likely to be unable to reach their goals because they are drained. I then recommend a 2 to 6 session program to help them get unstuck and happy to be smoke free.


Michael E.

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Permalink Reply by Susan French on November 10, 2009 at 6:30am

I personally want to thank everyone who shared their ideas and successes honestly. This has been an issue that has stuck in my craw from the beginning. It's easy to lay out a protocol for the "ideal" client who is raring to go. I have long said that we need to help them move out of their ambivalence (as Michael says: "stuckness") and not just kick them to the curb because they aren't "ready" in our view.

Thank you so very much again, everyone who addressed this in a way that was helpful instead of platitudinous.

Susan

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Permalink Reply by James Hazlerig - HypnosisAustin on November 10, 2009 at 7:05am

Well, to give credit where it's due, I picked up that method from Melissa Roth's book on smoking cessation.

James

Neil said:

You're good!

James Hazlerig said:

I find that usually the smoker who fears weight gain has some reason for the belief--such as a relative who quit smoking and then ballooned out of control--and generally people will dig in their heels when told that their fears are ridiculous. (I even had a phobia client object to my calling her fear of bridges an "irrational fear," even though that is the definition of a phobia.)

So I explain to my clients during pre-talk: "One out of ten people who stop smoking do gain significant weight. Another three out of ten gain a pound or two. But of the remaining six, three stay the same, and three lose a few pounds. So statistically, your chances of losing weight are better than your chances of gaining, but we can do better than random chance. What makes the difference is the behavior, and I'm going to teach you easy strategies to keep you from being that one in ten who suffers, so that you can be smoke-free and slender. Doesn't that sound great?"

I then reinforce that during trance.

James

Neil said:

Fable got most of the points that prevent smokers from 'DECIDING' to quit!

Deciding is a process of going through all the options available, and coming up with the strongest choice.
No matter what crap a client throws at you, change that belief(excuse) into a "not an option for me" belief.

For example, if a client says he/she doesn't want on put on weight, there must a belief supporting the idea that weight will be increased.
Change that belief to: " it's ridiculous to believe you'll put on weight if you stop smoking".

If you can't change beliefs in a client, then you can't change a client.
We all act upon beliefs.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by James Hazlerig - HypnosisAustin on November 10, 2009 at 7:22am

I have to echo your gratitude, Susan. It takes a lot of courage to admit that you're not happy with your success rate in what is one of the top two most popular applications of hypnosis. (So popular that I don't even advertise it any more--I can put up a flyer for any other kind of service, and I will get calls from smokers.)

On the subject of motivation, I proposed an idea in a comment to Susan's blog post the other day, but I'd like to put it here to see if I can get more feedback on it:

Yesterday, during a free consultation with a soon-to-be-former-smoker, I asked the client to think about all the reasons she wants to stop smoking, especially focussing on what she wants to move toward rather than what she wants to move away from. I asked her to feel those reasons in her bones, in every cell, and so on. I anchored the feeling to a spot on her arm, then used a sliding anchor to increase those feelings of motivation. (I did further anchoring to tie the motivation to extremely pleasant feelings.)

Now, she had already decided to sign up for sessions, so I can't be sure how much the technique influenced her. But I wonder if anyone else has used something similar or has any ideas that spark from this.

James

Susan French said:

I personally want to thank everyone who shared their ideas and successes honestly. This has been an issue that has stuck in my craw from the beginning. It's easy to lay out a protocol for the "ideal" client who is raring to go. I have long said that we need to help them move out of their ambivalence (as Michael says: "stuckness") and not just kick them to the curb because they aren't "ready" in our view.

Thank you so very much again, everyone who addressed this in a way that was helpful instead of platitudinous.

Susan

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Permalink Reply by Joffrey Lambert on November 11, 2009 at 6:39pm

Hi guys,

First post around here. Im a full-time C Ht having a practice in Canada. I would advise you do use age regression to remove to underlying cause of why they are smoking.

Then Direct suggestion + imagery to destroy habbits and you compound the non-smoker reality till the end of session.

If another session is needed, parts therapy would be a good choice since there is probably still subconscious resistance.

All the best,

Joffrey

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