Efficacy of Stephen Brooks Strategy of Hypnotherapy for Smoking Cessation Among Male Young Adults

Abstract

Objective: To examine the efficacy of Stephen Brooks’ strategy of hypnotherapy for smoking cessation among male young adults.

Method: The quasi-experimental study was conducted from March to May 2024 at Lahore School of Behavioural Sciences, UOL, Lahore, and comprised males aged 18-26 years from private universities of Lahore, Pakistan, who were smoking 'Capstan' cigarettes, and had a relative who had died from smoking-related illness. Smoking Cessation Motivation Questionnaire was used to check the motivation among the participants to quit smoking, whereas the Cigarette Dependence Scale was used to record the cigarette dependence scores before and after the intervention. Uptime-downtime induction and staircase induction techniques were used for inducing trance, which was followed by the intervention for smoking cessation. The intervention comprised three sessions based on the Stephen Brooks model. Data was analysed using SPSS V 29.0.1.

Results: There were 8 males with mean age 22.54+/-2.87 years. The intervention had a significant impact in favour of smoking cessation (p<0.001). Motivation to quit smoking had a significant negative correlation with scores of cigarette dependence scale (p<0.05).

Conclusion: Evidence confirmed the efficacy of Stephen Brooks’ hypnotherapy strategy for smoking cessation among male young adults.

Key Words: Effectiveness, Stop smoking, Hypnosis, Trance, Hypnotic induction.