For quitting smoking or overcoming dependency on any substance, self-hypnosis works wonders. No matter what your habit or addiction, self-hypnosis can help you bring overcome the craving and relax about living the rest of your life without tobacco (or whatever your own favorite addiction).

Hello, I'm Chuck Henderson (Dr. Charles E. Henderson, Ph.D., for those who prefer things on a more formal basis.) For many years I have been showing people how to use self-hypnosis. To achieve the kinds of things they want out of life. To be the kind of person they know they can be. Anyone with normal intelligence and a desire to be improve him- or herself can learn how to use self-hypnosis. And addiction is one of the areas of application where self-hypnosis seems to work like magic.

If you suffer from a tobacco addiction, you are certainly not alone. At one time more than half of the adult population of the US smoked or used tobacco in one form or another. Thanks to the (deserved) negative publicity tobacco has received in recent years, the percent of smokers in the population is down somewhere around 25 percent.

You can join that group of ex-smokers who quit the habit, sometimes after a lifetime of smoking. I have personally seen thousands of smokers quit with the help of self-hypnosis. You can too. Relative to this there is some good news, and some bad news. The good news is that everyone can use these techniques, and they often make it downright easy to quit. I've seen many people quit almost instantly and never be troubled again by the craving for tobacco.

In fact, one of my favorite stories about quitting smoking involves a woman named Nina, friend of my wife Chris. Like Chris, Nina is a healthcare professional. She was well aware of the dangers of smoking and had been flirting with the thought of quitting. She hadn't actually decided yet to do it but she wondered what my Quitting Smoking tape was like. So she asked my wife if she could borrow one to listen to.

Nina had had the tape about a week when she brought it back to my wife, somewhat miffed. She was mildly upset because she had listened to the tape just once and she had not wanted to smoke since. That was many years ago and to my knowledge she still does not smoke.

Not everyone responds that way, of course, and that brings us to the bad news: You will not quit smoking until you are subconsciously ready to do so!

It makes no difference how strongly you consciously want to quit. No amount of so-called willpower will get you to quit smoking if you are subconsciously opposed to quitting. (Check here to see what I think about willpower.) On the other hand, once you are subconsciously ready to quit, you won't be able to smoke! That's what happened to Nina. Her subconscious was moved into a non-smoking conviction and she could no longer smoke. You will do whatever your subconscious wants, and that is the long and short of it.

By the way, I'm not one of those people who never smoked, and who have no idea of what it takes to quit. One of those people who don't get it, who say, "Just quit!" I was a smoker, started inhaling cigarette smoke when I was six years old (I came from a tough neighborhood). I smoked heavily for many years before I quit. I know what it takes, personally as well as professionally, to quit smoking.

The only way to quit, like I said, is to get your subconscious mind convinced that you don't want to. To do that it is best to start with autoquestioning, formulate suggestions on the basis of what you learn from your autoquestioning, and apply them during self-hypnosis practice.

And please don't get carried away with images of Bella Lugosi-like trance states and people walking around with their arms stretched out in front of them like zombies. The kind of self-hypnosis I teach does not require anything like that. In fact, there is nothing weirder about it than it is when you sit back, close your eyes, and think about something pleasant. If you can do that, you can use self-hypnosis. It really is so easy to do, anyone can do it! And the rewards can be immense!

When you are doing your autoquestioning to determine just what it is you subconsciously get from smoking, pay particular attention to the concept of adulthood. It is no uncommon for people to need to smoke because they have the subconscious conviction that it is necessary for them to smoke to be an adult. This kind of reasoning does not make any sense at the conscious level, which is why you need to know something about how the subconscious works and its logical limitations. (You'll find more about these subconscious dynamics in the material on Suggestion.)

Because it is difficult to avoid negative formulations of suggestion (negative is not as good as positive) for quitting smoking, it is often better to work with image suggestions. These follow the same rules of suggestion formulation and application, but they are mental images instead of verbal constructions. The reason it is so hard to avoid negative formulations is because there is no positive term or phrase that means to quit smoking or to not be a smoker.

Some people prefer to use professionally recorded hypnotic inductions. I have one specifically for quitting smoking (tape or CD).

Now, another word or two about Autoquestioning (There is also a separate tape or CD on Autoquestioning). Autoquestioning, I have to say, is absolutely, outrageously magnificent! Wunderbar! I used to use it to cut through weeks, months, even years of therapy in some cases. It is that powerful. And the beauty of it is, you can't hurt yourself with it. You really must find out about this phenomenon. Here is the URL again; just click here to get there:  Autoquestioning.

The last word? If you have any kind of problems with quitting smoking or other substance abuse, the most complete set of methods and techniques is available in my latest book, Self Hypnosis: for the Life You Want.