I was attracted to this forum by what a poster once wrote:"Come...

I was attracted to this forum by what a poster once wrote:
"Come and join us at the Lifestyle and Travel forum- check your egos at the door."

A great mate of mine, we are now both 50 and have been friends for 45 years, (yep, Preps) has been trying for ages to give up smoking. Tried most things, lower tar/nicotine fags, only smoking away from home, only smoking after dinner- you know, all of the usual stuff. He's tried so many patches he almost gleams.

For his 50th birthday present to himself, a couple of weeks ago, he decided once and for all to just do it, and put it to a "higher power" ie someone else!
A workmate of his had told him about using hypnotherapy to give up smoking and drinking. She was pretty much a chain smoker and an admitting alcoholic. (That's rare in itself)

He got the number of the same hypnotherapist and called him up, explaining briefly his aims.
With a $500 quote, the therapist told him that he would do his utmost to cure him of the yearning to smoke. No ifs, no buts. (Pun). The consult commenced with "Tell me exactly what you want me to do for you in an ideal world."
A one-off fee appied, the $500, if he wasn't cured then every appointment after that would be free until he had given up and was happy to cease treatments.

My mate was telling me all of this and I was trying to be positive and supportive, but truly, I consider such therapy as a cross between legal voodoo and slapping a couple of mullet together.

He has been to one session so far, two weeks ago, and has not yearned for a smoke since then. Prior to that he would smoke maybe 15-20 a day.
He SMS's me often, telling me how he's still not smoking and sort of believes he hasn't even got much of a want for a smoke. Tells me that he's not sure if it's the $500 that he doesn't want to waste, or the idea of the "higher power", you know, someone else, but for whatever reason he absolutely believes that he's done with the fags.
And it's not as if he's even bypassed the usual temptations.
He still drives home, still has a beer, still meets with friends that smoke. There might be something in it!

His next idea is to give up the booze. At this stage he reckons he downs 2 bottles of Bundy per week, and a couple of beers at home and with friends sometimes.
He put it to the therapist and was told that to give up too many vices too quickly might be more than anyone could successfully manage. Was told to keep off the fags for a month or so and if he felt the same about the booze to come back and have further sessions. This is still for the same $500.

The application of the hypnotherapy itself he described was different to what I envisaged. I've always thought it would be some kind of Maxwell Smart type spinning black circles on a white board or a pendulating charm.
The hypno bloke worked out of a quiet, non descript room with very little character. There was no music, no incence or anything, one couch, a couple of chairs, and a quiet feel about the place.
He was asked to hold his hand out about a foot in front of his face, fingers splayed. The therapist then asked him to concentrate past his fingers, not quite crossing his eyes, as he was touched by the therapists finger along each of his own digits. He couldn't see the hypno's finger touching his own but had to believe that he could. Pretty hard to describe in print.
The therapist talked in almost a monotone about the evils and problems regarding smoking and how, since my mate had come this far, perhaps he knew deep down, and should permit himself, to finish with it forever.

I was pretty interested at this point, and asked him if he was in a trance of some sort, like you see on TV sometimes.
He told me it was strange- he didn't fall asleep as such, doesn't even think he closed his eyes at all, just listened and tried to follow the therapists finger tip touching his, and listened carefully to his words.
But then he said that after a while the bloke asked him how long he thought they had been "talking" for.
He told him he reckoned 15, maybe 20 minutes.
The hypnotherapist informed him that they had been at it for almost 45 minutes!

At the end of the session he just left the premises, got back into his car and drove home. He states to me that such a drive would normally require 5 fags- but he didn't feel like even one.

It's now been just over 2 weeks since he went to this bloke and he's confident that he's got it licked.

It'll be interesting when he goes back about the drinking.

Just thought I'd share this with you.
I'll keep you up to date if anyones interested.