Discuss Different Techniques for Supporting Weight Loss and Smoking Cessation

Discuss different techniques for supporting weight loss and smoking cessation

As human beings we appear to be periodically obsessed with the idea of changing our lives in a profound way. There are certain times of the year when this desire is at its height i.e. New Year, after your summer holiday etc. Sadly all too often our resolution diminishes and we abandon our impetus to achieve our goal(s).  It does not need to be like this because hypnosis provides a dynamic way to make the changes you want to make in your life. The most common changes we long for are: stop smoking and lose weight. Whether your goal is to lose weight or stop smoking, the most common misconception, if you fail, is that you don’t have the willpower to achieve your goal.  It is your subconscious mind that needs to be addressed to experience the change sought. But the expectation- placebo effect is important for any change sought. Hence, it is assumed that motivation is very important in smoking cessation and that concentrating on the protection of body and life is powerful incentive for abstinence. Single-session interventions have been recorded economical and time-efficient and have an apparent advantage over unassisted efforts at quitting. Nevertheless, smoking and obesity related illnesses have been reported as leading causes of death in the world today. Therefore, there is need for adequate attention for the sake of people’s health, population and economy today and in the future.

Hypnotic techniques commonly used to treat smoking often include inviting smokers to relate cigarettes with unpleasant situations such as a dry mouth, bus fumes, or with negative outcomes such as cancer. Time track therapy has been recorded effective in the new hypnotherapy book by…. Where the client is taken through a time track through relaxation and suggestions reconciling the client’s younger self before the habit if smoking started and him/her older self and planning a future together with the goal set or agreed before the therapy started. The incredible thing about this technique has described in the book is the conservatory style of communication making the client to still be in control of what is happening in the therapy under hypnosis. However, some authors critised this method that delving into the reasons why people started to smoke is irrelevant, because at the time most adults started smoking it would not be considered harmful. And therefore the information sought may not be there.

Nevertheless, suggestions given make the client believe that they will lose the desire to smoke or help them cope with withdrawal. The method that concentrates on making the client see smoking as a poison to the body; reiterate upon the need for the body to live and expatiate on giving adequate respect and protection to the body.

Some of the explanations given could be that, cigarette smoking is nicotine addiction as recorded by the UK Royal College of Physicians, who concluded that “nicotine is an addictive drug on par with heroin…and that the main purpose of smoking is to deliver a dose of nicotine quickly to the brain.” This cause short-term increase in blood pressure, heart rate and the flow of blood from the heart: the arteries narrow and harden causing detrimental impact on health i.e. cancer, heart attacks, strokes etc.

Some clients could be taught self-hypnosis and are encouraged to repeat these ideas every few hours, and any time they experience an urge to smoke.

Research indicates that aside from nicotine there are more than 4,000 chemicals in a cigarette. These include, ammonia (found in toilet cleaners) , acetone (found in nail varnish remover), cadmium (highly poisonous metal used in batteries), carbon monoxide (gas given off by exhausts and gas fires), cyanide (the lethal gas used in the gas chambers), Formaldehyde (used to preserve dead bodies), arsenic (poison) etc. There is a range of symptoms which include, irritability, hostility, anxiety, depressive thinking, problems with concentration, weight gain etc.

As in smoking, for some people eating can become addictive to them. They tend to use eating as a learnt coping mechanism to reduce anxiety and/or depression. Even though both issues requires unlearning the habits, some people see smoking cessation as simpler to be dealt with than telling someone to change their eating pattern. However, both have been discussed not as easy because of the delicate nature of the subject matter as it relates to all. Some therapist still smokes and some other obese in their body image presentation and therefore makes it tricky to effectively help others when he/she is seen as needed help. However, it was discussed in class that it shouldn’t really be a barrier because hypnosis could help people understand their individual detrimental eating pattern which can be changed for them during therapy.

Hypnosis could help a client deal with food issues, by changing the client’s relationship with food, express how the client feels about his/herself, address the cause of overeating, possibly give nutritional advice or offer healthier options (gotten from a dietician) and make suggestions for the client to develop a sustainable exercise programme. Hypnosis provides the means to address the underlying issues, thereby giving you the capacity to change and break free from the unhealthy and destructive connection between food and your emotions.

Use client information to devise a course of treatment for a specific case

Habits are not established by the logical and intellectual part of the mind but by the lies told to the subconscious mind, therefore to change this, it’s important to know how and possibly why the habit was created. Numerous research studies has reported hypnotherapy to be an effective therapy for helping people stop smoking and lose weight. Although some have argued that approaches to hypnotherapy, such as direct/scripted suggestion or regression could be inadequate for some because of their individual differences, whereas others have been found the same approach to work much better, therefore, integrating hypnosis with elements of established cognitive and/or behavioural therapy works out better. These variations could be because of the individuality of clients, but when the therapist uses the emotional issues identified as important to the client during the initial discussion to discourage them from the habit; it could help. The basic procedure, professional delivered should entail, a hypnotic induction and deepeners tailored the peculiarity of the client, followed by suggestions that from now on the client becomes a nonsmoker and would be disgusted at the smell of a cigarette……including suggestions to prevent relapse and enhance cognitive restructuring probably associated with their health improvement. This is also known as multicomponent therapy intervention.