First of two parts
I received a call from a new client, asking if I could help her girlfriend, who would be visiting the United States, to quit smoking. I told her that hypnosis is effective 70 percent of the time and that I have an 85 percent success rate.
The minor hitch was that I would only be able to see her twice and the sessions would only be two days apart.
When it comes to hypnosis, I am structured in what I want to help each client accomplish. When I first started, I felt strongly that each client must turn up for six weeks in a row to create the changes he or she wanted.
As I have matured in my practice, I realized this was not the best policy. In many cases, trying to hurry a fix was not going to work. Stepping back and giving suggestions while the client was under hypnosis provided more settling time within the subconscious. That worked much better.
For many years, I have held three sessions in three weeks, and the final three sessions are once every two weeks. I like to see the client three weeks in a row to ensure that the suggestions offered are repeated often.
In turn, this helps the subconscious to accept the suggestion to reinforce it and work with it. By giving more time after the first three sessions, this allows the client to come to terms with the changes. The client can absorb the changes, and he/she has sufficient time to work with the new ideas and behaviors that the subconscious is now offering.
Remember, what I have written above does not apply to somnambulists, who are deep level hypnotic candidates. Somnambulists are always found and used at hypnotism stage shows. A somnambulist swiftly goes to the deepest level of hypnosis. A somnambulist adopts suggestions so remarkably fast. Of the somnambulists I have hypnotized to help quit smoking, there is one dominant certainty:
Without exception, regardless of how many or how few cigarettes the client was smoking, he/she always left the first session having stopped. Generally, a single followup reinforcement session was all that was needed.
(To be continued)
Do not hesitate to contact me by telephone, 310.204.3321, or by email at nickpollak@hypnotherapy4you.net. See my website at www.hypnotherapy4you.net