It's not just about cigarettes...
Just when you think you’ve seen everything a regular ‘non smoking’ therapy can be, something new comes along. This is the true story of a client who had come with his wife and had achieved deep trance levels, with every expectation of a successful outcome.
I had done my usual exploration of reasons why he’d started smoking, history of addictions in his family, search for trauma in his background. Not only was he an extremely confident and comfortable individual, he seemed the perfect husband and provider. He was a genuinely nice guy, affable and easy going.
Once he’d gone through induction he swiftly went into a trance and accepted suggestion readily. Using two or three tests I could see he was clearly in hypnosis. I was somewhat surprised when two days later his wife called to say he was having trouble remaining smoke free. Whilst he had not smoked, he was clearly struggling. He was agitated and anxious, mostly at work.
I got him straight back into the office during a slot the following morning. In hypnotic regression the following three issues emerged:
As a child he had been asthmatic. His sister would hide his inhaler, and spray it to waste the medication, often bringing on an asthma attack through anxiety. On one occasion she had tossed it out of the window, and he’d gone out into the garden in his pyjamas. She’d then locked him out of the house. This was in Ontario in the winter and the temperature was 20 below. He’d been outside in the snow in his pyjamas and developed hypothermia.
His mother had once come on the back of a motorcycle, and found him smoking. He’d been standing on the sidewalk, holding a pack of Marlboro, with one in his mouth. He didn’t realize it was his mother in the leathers and helmet. She’d reached out and taken the cigarette from his hanging jaw as he’d been so surprised, and disappointed in himself and for letting his other down through his behaviour. It had troubled him over the years and he remembered her words exactly – “I’ll be taking those!” He was caught, literally ‘red handed’.
In his first workplace his boss had been a heavy smoker, a bully and entirely incompetent. He would come to work wondering what he would be blamed for this time, as the youngest member of a crew. Work was unpleasant, and a smoke break was a sanctuary of sorts.
So – first things first. The sister, the inhaler taken away – a horrible picture rekindled by the removal of his recent ‘inhaler’ – his cigarettes. This needed substantial reframing and deconstruction – including homework to go and see his sister and chat about the entire episode and desensitize it.
Next, the mother. He felt sad to have let his mother down, not to mention surprised and shocked at her sudden appearance. In this we have an ally. After getting him to re experience the episode in hypnosis I asked him to go and see his mother, photograph her, and paste the picture to the dashboard of his truck with the words ‘I’ll be taking those’ written on the picture. His truck (part of his work) was an area he’d had difficulty avoiding smoking.
Finally, at work – He was as much afraid of being like that first incompetent boss, as he was of giving up his ‘sanctuary’ – the smoke break. This man had extremely high personal standards – he was a model husband and an extremely practical individual. He was the leader of his work crew and treated them well, having experience bad leadership in the past. We examined the work situation he’d experienced all those years ago, and then compared it to his current situation – and looked at the fact that his leadership and kindness to his colleagues marked him out as different. It established him as a role model. No role model would condone smoking. He was motivated to set an example in the workplace, the principle area of challenge for him. As a leader he had been struggling to suppress memories of a difficult workplace experience with each cigarette he’d lit.
This really is a case of being torn in two directions at once. On the one hand, ending the relationship with cigarettes rekindles memories of being without the inhaler, and remaining a smoker challenged his desire to be a good leader in the workplace (was he turning into his incompetent first boss?).
We not only took care of the issues in hypnosis, my client also committed to going to see his mother and his sister and chat about these issues n a non challenging way. If you can laugh at the causes of an issue, then you can take its power away.
Two or three days after this second session my client reported he felt great, had had the best sleep he’d experienced in months, and he was closer to his family than ever before. The moral of the story? It’s never just about cigarettes.
I had done my usual exploration of reasons why he’d started smoking, history of addictions in his family, search for trauma in his background. Not only was he an extremely confident and comfortable individual, he seemed the perfect husband and provider. He was a genuinely nice guy, affable and easy going.
Once he’d gone through induction he swiftly went into a trance and accepted suggestion readily. Using two or three tests I could see he was clearly in hypnosis. I was somewhat surprised when two days later his wife called to say he was having trouble remaining smoke free. Whilst he had not smoked, he was clearly struggling. He was agitated and anxious, mostly at work.
I got him straight back into the office during a slot the following morning. In hypnotic regression the following three issues emerged:
As a child he had been asthmatic. His sister would hide his inhaler, and spray it to waste the medication, often bringing on an asthma attack through anxiety. On one occasion she had tossed it out of the window, and he’d gone out into the garden in his pyjamas. She’d then locked him out of the house. This was in Ontario in the winter and the temperature was 20 below. He’d been outside in the snow in his pyjamas and developed hypothermia.
His mother had once come on the back of a motorcycle, and found him smoking. He’d been standing on the sidewalk, holding a pack of Marlboro, with one in his mouth. He didn’t realize it was his mother in the leathers and helmet. She’d reached out and taken the cigarette from his hanging jaw as he’d been so surprised, and disappointed in himself and for letting his other down through his behaviour. It had troubled him over the years and he remembered her words exactly – “I’ll be taking those!” He was caught, literally ‘red handed’.
In his first workplace his boss had been a heavy smoker, a bully and entirely incompetent. He would come to work wondering what he would be blamed for this time, as the youngest member of a crew. Work was unpleasant, and a smoke break was a sanctuary of sorts.
So – first things first. The sister, the inhaler taken away – a horrible picture rekindled by the removal of his recent ‘inhaler’ – his cigarettes. This needed substantial reframing and deconstruction – including homework to go and see his sister and chat about the entire episode and desensitize it.
Next, the mother. He felt sad to have let his mother down, not to mention surprised and shocked at her sudden appearance. In this we have an ally. After getting him to re experience the episode in hypnosis I asked him to go and see his mother, photograph her, and paste the picture to the dashboard of his truck with the words ‘I’ll be taking those’ written on the picture. His truck (part of his work) was an area he’d had difficulty avoiding smoking.
Finally, at work – He was as much afraid of being like that first incompetent boss, as he was of giving up his ‘sanctuary’ – the smoke break. This man had extremely high personal standards – he was a model husband and an extremely practical individual. He was the leader of his work crew and treated them well, having experience bad leadership in the past. We examined the work situation he’d experienced all those years ago, and then compared it to his current situation – and looked at the fact that his leadership and kindness to his colleagues marked him out as different. It established him as a role model. No role model would condone smoking. He was motivated to set an example in the workplace, the principle area of challenge for him. As a leader he had been struggling to suppress memories of a difficult workplace experience with each cigarette he’d lit.
This really is a case of being torn in two directions at once. On the one hand, ending the relationship with cigarettes rekindles memories of being without the inhaler, and remaining a smoker challenged his desire to be a good leader in the workplace (was he turning into his incompetent first boss?).
We not only took care of the issues in hypnosis, my client also committed to going to see his mother and his sister and chat about these issues n a non challenging way. If you can laugh at the causes of an issue, then you can take its power away.
Two or three days after this second session my client reported he felt great, had had the best sleep he’d experienced in months, and he was closer to his family than ever before. The moral of the story? It’s never just about cigarettes.
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