Effective As Other Smoking Cessation Treatments example essay topic

1. The premise of my essay is that women have a better success rate than men when using hypnosis for cessation of cigarette smoking. Each year 440,000 people die of diseases caused by smoking, that is about 20 percent of all deaths in the United States. The number of woman dying from lung cancer has shown a dramatic increase while the number of men dying from lung cancer has shown a gradual reduction.

This reflects the increase in smoking among woman after the Second World War. In Scotland and the United States, death in women from lung cancer now exceed those from breast cancer. Smoking related heart disease and stroke occur in both men and women. Smoking is linked with poor reproductive health in both men and women. In men it has been associated with impotence and reduced sperm count. Women who smoke have greater difficulty becoming pregnant and suffer early menopause.

The risks to the fetus of smoking during pregnancy are well known and include increased incidence of miscarriage, neonatal death, and low birth weight. Pregnant woman who smoke are more likely to have babies who have an increased risk of death from sudden infant death syndrome and respiratory distress. They are also more likely to have low birth weight babies. Low birth weight is linked to many infants' health disorders.

In many respects men and women are quite similar in regards to smoking. There are still slightly more male smokers than female smokers (29% and 28% of all adults respectively) Two thirds of men and women would like to stop smoking and equal proportions try to stop smoking each year. New evidence indicates that men and women succeed in stopping smoking at the same rate. However, interesting patterns emerge when 2. analyzing the reasons why men and women smoke, their motivations to stop, the process of stopping smoking and the barriers they face. It is important to understand these differences so that effective smoking cessation strategies can be developed. Most important are the different psychological and physical dependencies men and women with their smoking.

Men are heavier smokers than woman. Women are more emotionally dependent on smoking then men. Men and women are similar in their assessment of health risks of smoking, but reasons for stopping differ. Men tend to cite more self-orientated reasons, such as improving fitness. Women are twice as likely as men to want to stop for the sake of their family and children or because of pregnancy. Men are also likely to cite workplace restrictions as a trigger for trying to stop smoking.

The barriers to stopping smoking reflect the different 'bonds' men and women have with their cigarettes. For men, alcohol plays an important part, with three times as many men as women stating they started smoking again while drinking alcohol. Stress and fears of weight gain feature more strongly in women than in men Hypnosis can be great for cessation of cigarette smoking depending on the individual. Hypnosis is an altered state of consciousness and heightened awareness that allows an individual to tune into and develop his subconscious processes. It is a natural process that we have all experienced. It is the state of mind that we find ourselves in when we are daydreaming; absorbed in a book, or movie, music; when we are just about to fall asleep or upon just awakening when we can remember our dreams.

Hypnosis can also be thought of as a special relationship that one has with his subconscious. Trust and 3. acceptance allows the individual to accept appropriate suggestions by both himself and his hypnotist aimed at helping him to achieve his worthwhile goals. It is a tool that the hypnotist uses to help him maximize his natural gifts, and his goals. The predominant school of thought on hypnosis is that it is a way to access one's subconscious mind directly. Normally, one is only aware of the thought processes in the conscious mind.

This involves for example: the problems that are immediate, consciously choosing words as one speaks, or consciously trying to remember location of one's keys. The conscious mind works hand-in-hand with the subconscious mind. The unconscious part of the mind does 'behind the scenes' thinking. The subconscious accesses a vast reservoir of information in the mind.

It puts together plans and ideas and runs them by your conscious mind. When a new idea comes to you out of the blue, it's because you have already thought through the process unconsciously. Your subconscious also takes care of everything you do automatically. You don't actively work through the steps of breathing minute to minute; your subconscious mind does that.

You don't think through every little thing you do while driving a car; a lot of the steps is thought out in your subconscious mind. Your subconscious also processes the physical information your body receives. In short, your subconscious mind is the real brains behind the operation. It does most of your thinking and it decides a lot of what you do.

When you are awake, your conscious mind works to evaluate a lot of thoughts, make decisions and put certain ideas into action. It also processes new information and relays it to the subconscious mind. 4. When you are asleep, the conscious mind gets out of the way and your subconscious has free reign. Psychiatrists theorize that the deep relaxation and focusing exercises of hypnotism work to calm and subdue the conscious mind so that it takes a less active role in the thinking process.

In this state, you are still aware of what's going on, but your conscious mind takes a back seat to your subconscious mind. Effectively, this allows you and the hypnotist to work directly with the subconscious. It's as if the hypnotism process pops open a control panel inside your brain. Hypnosis can be used to help many areas of a person's life. People use it for habit control such as weight control and smoking cessation. Hypnosis can be used to motivate oneself to eat healthy, nutritional foods suitable, and to develop internal control for self- regulation of eating habits.

Hypnosis is used to help a person stop smoking which helps you forget about cigarettes and smoking. It transfers negative energy to positive energy and thus productive behavior. Examples of other habit control would be to stop nail biting, mental and physical fitness. Hypnosis also works for educational improvement such as memory retention, study behavior, self expression and creative thinking. Hypnosis is also great for improving skill development such as money management, public speaking, sports performance.

Body functions such as coordination, breathing and sleeping patterns can be improved though hypnosis as well. 5. There are many myths about hypnosis: 1. A hypnotist has magical powers: These are all false. A hypnotist is an ordinary human being.

2. You can be hypnotized and do things against your will: Absolutely false. Nobody can be hypnotized against their will. You must be 100% cooperative in order to be hypnotized. Under Hypnosis you can choose to accept or reject any suggestions given to you by the hypnotist. 3.

Only weak minded people can be hypnotized: The more intelligent you are the easier is to hypnotize you. In certain cases of mental disability, hypnosis is impossible. You can be hypnotized only if you want to. 4. Under hypnosis you are unconscious: Under Hypnosis you are awake and completely aware. 5.

You can get stuck in Hypnosis: Even if the hypnotist dropped dead after putting you in deep Hypnosis, you will either open your eyes after not hearing his voice for a while or you will slip into a brief sleep and awaken normally. The key to success in hypnosis lies in allowing oneself to follow instructions given by the hypnotist. One of the easiest methods to achieve the necessary susceptible state is a technique called "Progressive Relaxation". (Progressive Relaxation is the active relaxation of each part of the body, one at a time.

However, you will keep the body relaxed as you move on to each new area.) An obstacle commonly experienced during this step-by-step relaxation process is "resistance". Although you consciously want to change a habit or attitude, your subconscious mind may cling too many old habits and 6. fears for protection. Repeated listening to the hypnosis tapes, particularly when just beginning the treatment, will strengthen their effectiveness. For additional effect, use stereo headphones.

With headphones, you benefit from many reinforcing electronic effects. Although the variety of techniques insures greater success, some persons may still experience "resistance". If you do not respond as successfully as you would like while using the items, a discussion with the hypnotist regarding a private one to one individualized hypnosis session may be the technique you would need to help you reach a further level of success. Hypnoses to quit smoking often requires multiple sessions and needs to be combined with other approaches, such as cognitive behavior strategies, proper nutrition, exercise and avoidance of smoking triggers. Researchers reviewed 18 studies of hypnosis- based smoking- cessation programs and found this approach was successful for about 30 percent of men, compared to 23 percent of women. But the researchers said this difference may have more to do with gender than with hypnosis itself.

None of the studies showed why hypnosis worked better for men then women. Associate Professor Joseph Green of OSU said research has not shown any real difference between men and women in their ability to be hypnotized. If anything, women may have a slight advantage in being hypnotized. "There's no theoretical reason why hypnosis should work better for men than women in smoking cessation", according to Green.

The reason why women do not fare well is because of gender differences in smoking cessation overall. While there is some controversy, Green said many experts do believe that women have a harder time than men quitting smoking. One reason may be 7. that nicotine replacement therapy (such as nicotine gum or patch) is not as effective for women as it is for men. Experts also say women are concerned with weight gain associated with stopping smoking, so they are more reluctant to quit or may relapse if they experience weight gain. But that doesn't mean hypnosis won't work with women, or they shouldn't try to quit smoking.

The key is to find the right combination of treatments that will help boost the chance of success. In an earlier study in 2000, Green found that hypnosis was generally as effective as other smoking cessation treatments. "Given that most of these smoking cessation approaches have similar success rates, it is really up to the consumer", It depends on which treatment a person is most likely to use. There is nothing about hypnotic treatments that women should shy away from. If a smoker - a man or a woman - is strongly motivated to try a hypnotic approach, he or she will probably be as successful with that approach as any other.

Hypnosis often takes multiple sessions, and a combination of approaches, to reach your goal. Hypnosis could be combined with cognitive behavioral strategies, an awareness of nutrition and exercise, and an avoidance of smoking triggers to help make smoking cessation successful. Regardless of which treatment you use, smoking cessation requires motivation and social support and often times several attempts before it is successful. But all the benefits of quitting smoking are clear and it is a worthwhile goal. In my conclusion, the premise is rejected.

Hypnosis can be an effective method for smoking cessation in both genders. However, review of the literature does show that men have a better success rate then women when using hypnosis to help them quit smoking.