Time and again I have read articles and magazine features where many hypnotherapist of their cases when they successfully manage to make a person get rid of an obsession or an addiction. But I have never quite believed them. So when I hear someone talking about someone who managed to quit smoking after a series of hypnosis sessions, I look at them with suspicion.

You can’t blame me to, really. To a logical mind, it would sound really absurd that one can actually be cured of their problems by another person smoothly guiding your thought. It does sound mystical though, hypnotism as a problem solver. However, to a logical mind, the fact that more than 90% of the world’s power do believe in some sort of supernatural power which. in some sort of way effects us on earth. Gods and religions have always been an integral part of every civilization’s beliefs. Clearly, even these beliefs do not have any scientific evidence to back them up. This is another story though.

Anyway, hypnotism therapy does have some creditable success rates in varying degrees - some hypnotherapists have managed to make their patients completely rid of smoking to some who have managed to make people lose weight like maniacs.

Some one has very correctly said that hypnotism is like an aspirin - It is a method which many people believe in but a method which has never been understood.

SO HOW DOES HYPNOSIS WORK?

It is quite cliched but very true - you can imagine a swinging pendulum going from side to side, right and left, up and down, and a smooth, milky voice pouring like honey in your ears telling you - now you are feeling light, now you are feeling sleepy. That is the general perception of a usual hypnosis session and to some effect, it is quite true also. However, the actual sessions are never disclosed owing to severe scrutiny by the public eye and so many hypnotherapists prefer to keep their practice a secret.

How credible is Hypnosis?

This can be judged by startling facts which are revealed by statistics and surveys that are conducted by universities and medical institutions from time to time. Here are a two examples:

• 90.6% Success Rate Using Hypnosis : 43 patients undergoing clinical hypnosis for smoking cessation. 39 reported abstinence after a follow up (6 months to 3 years post-treatment). This shows that these patients had a 90.6% success rate using hypnotherapy. (source : University of Washington)

• Another Study: 30 smokers enrolled in a hypnotherapy program which was suggested their primary doctor for smoking cessation. Twenty-one patients received, post an initial consultation,  hypnosis for smoking cessation. As the treatment concluded, 81% of those patients reported that they had successfully quit smoking, and 48% said they had abstained for 12 months post-treatment.  (source: University of Iowa)

These two studies have a lot to suggest as to the success of Hypnotherapy for smoking cessation. If you have not yet tried this approach to quit smoking, you must.