Hypnosis is highly effective at helping people stop habits they want to be rid of. Hypnosis can often be advertised with single-session promises that don’t achieve full results. For breaking habits you’ll always want to offer at least 2 sessions to ensure your client reaches their goal.

Why? Well firstly, we won’t know how successful our clients are if we don’t get to see them again. Secondly, each person will have a different hypnotic experience. Each person’s habit will be slightly different based on how long they’ve had it, and the emotional reason they’re doing it. For example, people smoke for many different reasons (to relieve stress, anxiety, boredom, and more), so we have to address that reason and find a different coping strategy they can use instead. Some clients do respond very quickly to finding the root cause, and other’s may take a few more sessions to work through their emotional connection.

Here is a basic outline of how to help someone quit a bad habit with hypnosis.

There are (at least) three components of changing habits:

1. Eliminating the underlying root emotional issue that DRIVES the problem (stress, anxiety, boredom, guilt, sadness, anger). The behavior itself becomes part of this drive as clients then tend to feel BAD that they once again did the behavior they don't want to be doing anymore.

2. Eliminate the Habitual Component - the habit that goes with it. The neuropathways that are strengthened by continually supporting the habit. Our clients are doing things - like smoking, WITHOUT THINKING. They find a cigarette or cookie in their mouth without choosing it. It's automatic.

3. Replace the unhealthy with a healthy substitute - like practicing breath-work, using a toothpick, having a breath mint, etc. You and your client can get really creative with what their new healthy substitute action will be, but it’s very important that it’s something they can easily do no matter where they are or what time it is. With practice and hypnosis, this will become their new automatic response to the emotional behavior.

We have to fix these things for the change to be permanent. When we successfully help our client work through these changes, they have life-long success and we have a great success story to share that gives other future clients the confidence that we can help them too.

You too can become a hypnotist and help people kick their bad habits. Watch the video below from one of our successful grads Christian on his success with smoking cessation.