Smoking has been shown to cause heart disease, lung disease, diabetes and strokes. Smoking can also increase your risk of developing many different types of cancers.
And if you’re a cancer patient, having an ongoing smoking habit can jeopardize your treatment and prognosis.
For smokers, letting go of this potentially deadly habit can improve your health and change your life for the better. At City of Hope, there are programs to support you.
When trying to eliminate a smoking habit, there isn’t one quick fix. Successfully stopping smoking usually requires a combination of techniques and tools, which is why City of Hope offers a robust Smoking Cessation Program, available to all patients.
City of Hope’s Smoking Cessation Program employs a variety of methods to help patients stop smoking, including support groups, tobacco use assessments, individual counseling, Rapid Action Plans for relapses and same-day phone counseling for new patients and at-risk patients.
One exciting addition to the Smoking Cessation Program is a self-hypnosis audio-guide.
If the only kind of hypnosis you’re familiar with is the kind used for entertainment purposes at magic shows and in movies or television, the City of Hope self-hypnosis audio guide is quite different. And yes, it really can be effective.
Cary Presant, M.D., professor, Hematology and Oncology and co-director of the Clinical Tobacco Cessation Program, says this technique can create a sense of empowerment for those who have tobacco addiction.
“Self-hypnosis is something that can be used during times of high stress, during times of relapsing from smoking, and especially initially when you're trying to become tobacco free,” Presant said.
What Is Hypnosis?
Hypnosis is a state of mind in which the participant experiences a heightened level of focus and concentration. In this state, a person can more readily and easily absorb suggestions that are intended to help the person in hypnotic state change unhealthy behaviors.
"Self-hypnosis is a mild trance-like state which almost everyone can use from time to time," Presant explained.
“Children can enter into that state of mind very easily. If you’ve ever observed them playing, you see how focused and deeply absorbed they are in what they’re doing. Adults can experience this too, becoming deeply absorbed in a piece of music or an exciting sporting event so you don’t even notice how time passes or what’s happening around you, for example.”
Let’s say you’re a smoker who wants to stop smoking. In a hypnosis session, a licensed therapist would help you reach a state of deep concentration and focus, and then suggest a change in behavior, like reaching for something other than cigarettes when you have an urge to smoke.
“During the time that you're under that relaxation state, that light trance, you're more suggestible, and that can drive unconscious decisions about smoking cessation, tobacco control, into your future actions," Presant said. “When hypnosis is done in an ethical and proper way, it really helps to enhance people’s strengths and motivates them to engage in healthier behaviors. It is one of the ways to harness people’s natural healthy inner resources and motivations.”
How Does Self-Hypnosis Work?
Self-hypnosis allows for people to give suggestions to themselves, without a hypnotherapist being present with them.
To start, a participant can reach a state of heightened focus using deep relaxation or guided imagery. Once in that state of mind, you would then remind yourself what you want to do (incorporating healthy behaviors, e.g. becoming a non-smoker).
For example, to quote Dabney Ewin, M.D., a surgeon who became a proponent of medical hypnosis: “Let it be impossible to put a cigarette in your mouth without first looking at it, and making a conscious choice about protecting your lungs.”
Step 1: State your goal. What is it that you want to achieve?
Step 2: Access your unconscious mind by reaching a state of deep relaxation.
Step 3: Use your self-suggestion. Tell yourself what you want to do or change about your behavior, or how you want to feel. Visualize that. How will it look when you achieve your goal? How will you feel?
Step 4: Behave as if that suggestion is true in your daily life. These steps, when practiced consistently, can help patients become non-smokers.
“We recommend doing self-hypnosis using the City of Hope video guide, and then repeating it intermittently," Presant said. “As you become more familiar with it, you can do it more effectively and more rapidly as you go along,” Presant said.
How Can I Start Doing Self-Hypnosis?
City of Hope has created an audio-visual tool that instructs people on how to do self-hypnosis. Like a guided meditation, this tool helps people access a trance state where they can listen to suggestions to help them stop smoking.
“This tool is a great way for us to reach and help as many people as possible. They don’t even have to be City of Hope patients. Anyone who is highly motivated to stop smoking can use this information,” Presant said.
If you or someone you know is interested in quitting smoking, you can participate in a support program (even if you are not a registered City of Hope patient) by contacting [email protected].