`Hypnosis helps snuff out habit, smoker says`

By Jennifer Hall
Herald Staff Writer

On April 27 Kim Wilson made a “major decision.”

The pack-a-day smoker had been smoking for 20 years and it was time to quit. But she and a friend realized they couldn’t do it alone and enlisted the help of hypnotherapist Laurie Joanow.

“I was convinced it wasn’t going to work,” Mrs. Wilson said. “I was puffing away and smoked like five cigarettes before we got there.”

Mrs. Wilson’s son was having problems breathing. She had quit before for a couple of days at a time but was looking for something more long term.

“I was amazed that it did work,” she said. “It’s a combination of will power as well.” Mrs. Wilson hasn’t had a cigarette since her session.

Mrs. Joanow asks patients to start by focusing on a spot on the ceiling and then beginning deep breathing exercises, the soft music in the background enhances the “wave of relaxation,” spreading from the head to the toes.

Hypnosis as a medical therapy is an emerging field. Mrs. Joanow, a licensed social worker for the Primary Health Network, uses hypnosis for everything from weight loss to smoking cessation to pain management.

“You would never do something that you wouldn’t normally do,” Mrs. Joanow said. “You would never do anything that is against your own value system because your conscious mind would immediately bring you back.”

Fingers can tingle or feel extremely heavy as the body slips deeper and deeper into a relaxed state through steps on the side of a mountain or an imagined elevator trip.

In a darkened room, with the patients outside of the realm of reality, Mrs. Joanow, who was trained by the Wellness Institute in Seattle, begins to make suggestions about the pleasant things patients should be feeling and remembering.

She subtly suggests ignoring all outside sounds in case a door slams or a conversation from the hallway impedes on the tranquillity of the moment.

Mrs. Joanow tells the patients to visualize their favorite place and use all of their senses to experience that place, whether its the beach or a spot on a mountain.

“Hear the sounds, perhaps the sound of the water or a gentle breeze,” she said. “Now smell the surroundings, perhaps flowers or fresh clean air.”

A simple raise of a finger signals Mrs. Joanow that the patient has reached the level of relaxation by finding their favorite place.

Touching the tips of the thumb and forefinger becomes the patient’s anchor, a signal to bring them back to their favorite relaxed place.

“Any time you want to come back to this place just bring you thumb and forefinger together and you will be in this relaxed place enjoying all of the things about being there,” she suggests. Everyone can be hypnotized if they choose to be, Mrs. Joanow said. It’s a matter of comfort, meaning Mrs. Joanow serves as a facilitator while the person really self-hypnotizes like in meditation and prayer.

“We are taking advantage of a natural state,” she said. People slip into semi-hypnotic states every day, Mrs. Joanow said, adding that it occurs while driving as highway hypnosis or at other times as a daydream.

“It’s really good for habits such as smoking or eating,” she said. Mrs. Joanow provides a cassette tape for each patient in group or one-on-one sessions. Patients should review the tape every day for 21 days to place the suggestions firmly in their heads. Then the patient should listen as needed after that.

Mrs. Wilson listened to the tape for the 21 days and keeps it close for the times when she needs a little extra help.

“It reinforces what you are supposed to be doing,” she said, adding that her son’s breathing has improved.

During one-on-one sessions, Mrs. Joanow can focus more on that person’s results on the tapes while group session tapes are more general.

Suggestions can include a nauseated feeling when someone has a cigarette or sweet snacks taste too sweet and almost disgusting to eat, Mrs. Joanow said. If a person fails to be hypnotized, it’s not a failure but rather that they need to learn to relax further and open their minds to the process, she said.

“If people are nervous then it won’t work,” she said. “Some find that listening to the tape at home works more for them than the sessions.”

People can experience positive results even if only slightly hypnotized, she said. “It’s not a magic bullet,” she said, adding that people must also be making a conscious effort to quit smoking or lose weight.

“It’s designed to stop the second guessing of yourself and the self-deprecation that goes on,” she said.

A weight-loss session will be June 15 and a smoking-cessation session will be June 17. Information: 983-0817 or 342-6605.

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Updated June 5, 1999
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