Originally Posted by Ian Wegg
Did you actually try hypnotherapy Bonesie? It's true it may not work for everyone but it can be effective for many.

I suffered from a debilitating phobia for most of my life and found myself with an urgent need to rid myself of it. Two sessions with a hypnotherapist and it was gone. I was sceptical but it was my last resort and I'm a convert now. I think it's a shame there isn't more scientific study into how the process works.

I had a very close friend who was a manager of quite a large company. Something of a father figure for me as he was about 30 years older than me. He became interested in hypnotherapy when his daughter was unfortunately diagnosed with an incurable cancer. It started as meditation sessions with her and then progressed from there with some advice from his son who was a medical practitioner. Eventually in retirement he became a professional hypnotherapist. He discovered that he had particular success with some skin complaints and finished up with a specialist referring cases to him.

To return to the original topic.

Alis found herself with only one cigarette after an evening at home with guests. The next morning was market day and when she walked past the tobacconist she thought that since she does not smoke at the markets she would buy them on the way home. At that point she thought to herself that since she had managed for several hours perhaps the time had come to make a serious attempt to stop. Unknown to her I had bought a packet for her the day before but I did not say anything and was waiting till she asked. After a couple of days she announced to the family that she had decided to stop. At that point I got rid of the cigarettes because I was already contemplating begging her to start smoking again. frown

It took about a month for her to get over the cranky, bad temper, stage and several months to really stop coughing and clear the residue from her lungs. She did not use any aids but did, and still does, chew a lot of chewing gum and has put on some weight. It is now nearly 2 years and she has arrived at the point where even though she still occasionally desires a cigarette she can't stand the smell of cigarette smoke.

I myself tapered off when I was about 30 progressed from a packet a day, the a pipe, then about 5 cigarettes a day until a severe throat infection caused me to stop. I did have a very occasional small cigar after a meal with one of my friends who had that habit but stopped even that when I realised that the combination of red wine and a cigar always gave me a hang over stars

Peter

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