“..For more than half her life, Charlotte Philby has been devoted to cigarettes, even after watching her father die of lung cancer.
Then a friend persuaded her to see a hypnotherapist – and something extraordinary happened:..
The whale music isn’t playing yet, but I sense it’s on its way.
At this point I’m still in sitting position in a hypnotherapy treatment room above a healthy living shop in north London, and Meira Shore, my therapist for the next hour, is taking me through a series of increasingly surreal questions.
The aim is for her to find out as much as she can about my relationship with cigarettes .. before helping me kick my 14-year addiction (that’s more than half my lifetime) by waving a watch in front of my face and chanting positive affirmations.
Or something to that effect.
To start us off, Shore wants me to tell her what it is I like about smoking, which is rather an extensive list.
In fact, apart from having to stand outside pubs in the rain, I can’t think of one thing I don’t like –
- and in any case, I have an umbrella so I don’t even mind that bit too much.
I don’t even resent the cost – which at £6.20 a packet, a minimum of one packet (20 fags) a day, and significantly more at weekends, amounts to a fair portion of my disposable income –
- because I genuinely believe that they make my life a little bit better.
At least I’m in good company.
Last week, the results of Barack Obama’s recent health check were published, revealing that the President has still not managed to kick the habit, despite vowing that he would stop after his inauguration more than a year ago.
Obama’s been admirably frank about his habit and, given just how much pressure he’s under to quit, his must be quite an addiction.
“OK, now describe what it is that you like,” Shore is saying: “How does it make your life better?”
I close my eyes and cast my mind back: ..
.. Ten minutes earlier and I’m huddled in a doorway, soaked to the bone, feeling the soft barrel of the cigarette between my fingers; ..
.. wistfully, I recall the thick black smoke as it rolls down my throat;..
.. the smell lingering on my skin and clothes as I ascend the stairs to my appointment..”
(disclaimer:..i used to smoke at least 20 a day..
..i went to a hypnotherapist..and said i wanted to stop smoking tobacco..but that i didn’t want to stop smoking pot..
..i also had decided i wanted to stop..
(i practiced aversion therapy..not emptying ashtrays..and spending a deal of time contemplating/meditating on their contents..)
so..what worked..?..was it my desire to quit..?..or the hypnotherapy..?
i reckon it was a mix of the two..and would recommend those trying to quit to give hypnotherapy a go..eh..?
..i can’t see how it would hurt..
..just..if you still want to smoke pot..make sure you tell the hypnotist beforehand..eh..?
go to source/story>>Clean break: ‘How my habit went up in smoke’ - Features, Health & Families - The Independent