What is the most import element in helping others with smoking cessation?
After a slight discussion about smoking cessation this past week, it seems like this is a good topic for the Sunday question.
What is the most import element in helping others with smoking cessation?
There are several answers, I suspect. But smoking cessation is one of those things that I truly do not totally understand, as I have never been a smoker. Michael mentioned in a post from last week that he feels that it is good to ingrain the idea of "gain" rather than "loss." So perhaps this is a key ingredient.
I would love to hear from both hypnotists and those who have given up smoking.
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My teacher, Marcia Proctor, likes to say that when we see a client for the first time their attitude can often be summed up in a famous line from Star Wars: "Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope." That is, they've often tried every other tactic they could think of to deal with whatever the perceived problem is and are now looking for the miracle cure.
Sometimes a smoker will even ask outright, "Can you make me stop?" Often they're crestfallen when I answer truthfully that no, I can't *make* them stop, though I can certainly help them to do it. Consider also that smokers today are bombarded with advertising that stresses how hard it is to quit (unless, of course, the smoker buys whatever patch, pill, or program the ad is pushing).
Given all that, I tend to think that Job One with any smoker is to get them believing that they are not helpless. Once a person understands that smoking is a habit rather than an addiction (a point that some will dispute, but that's another topic) and that they truly can choose to end that habit -- people break habits every day, don't they? -- then the hardest part of the battle is won.
-Michael Raugh, C.H.
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