Smoking fulfills emotional and physical needs.  I used to smoke myself.  To quit you need to find other ways to meet your emotional and physical needs!  Anxiety is one thing you must reduce to be successful.  Love for your body works better than mind tripping yourself.   Check out my free libarary at www.drjeanette.com which has an article about smoking in it. Click here to read more about the most effective way to stop smoking.

Hypnotherapy appears to be very successful in helping people to stop smoking if you really want to stop.

 I'm researching the therapeutic benefits of knitting and many people say it's effective for stopping smoking. Lambeth PCT have set up a Knit to quit group. Knitting occupies your mind and your hands. There are many associated behaviours attached to smoking - you may enjoy that quiet time in the garden with your thoughts, the social chats with other smokers, the hand movements. Anecdotal evidence is very strong that knitting can replace all these. It can give you that quiet contemplative time, hand movement and social contact, so it's very effective. There are many groups that meet to knit in pubs, so if you link smoking to enjoying time out with friends, then this could be a possible solution. Plus if you smoke and knit your knitting smells so you'll find yourself trying to avoid that as much as possible. If you want to find out more about our research visit www.stitchlinks.com.

I agree that hypnotherapy can be very effective, but you really do have to want to stop yourself. If you can stop through your own willpower then great! You are expecting it to be difficult but many find it surprisingly easy. I have helped people of all ages, at all levels of smoking, and sometimes a younger person who smokes only a few can find it harder than a long-term smoker on a 40 a day habit! It always helps to focus on the positives, and to be aware of your own reasons for wanting to stop smoking. For many it can be about the freedom from smoking - alongside the benefits to health and wealth! Change all your habits around smoking, doing so at different times and in different places, and you will be surprised at how your feelings about the habit change.

If support is needed then Hypnotherapy is the best support, helping you through the first stages of becoming a non-smoker. You are always aware of what is going on and there are no side effects. In fact people often feel better in other ways, either feeling more focused or feeling stronger and more confident. Hypnotherapy works because smoking is a learned habit, just like walking, talking and driving a car. It effectively has to be unlearned first and that has to happen in the subconscious mind. Hypnotherapy can 're-program' the learning, and support the subconscious in making the necessary changes.