Smokers should be offered and encouraged to use e-cigarettes to help them quit, says the UK’s Royal College of Physicians, claiming there is resounding evidence that e-cigarettes are ‘much safer’ than smoking and aid quitting. 
With the right checks and measures, vaping could improve the lives of millions of people, it says in a new, 200-page report, adding fears that e-cigarettes are a gateway to smoking are unfounded.
But, by and large, people who want to use electronic cigarettes will still need to buy them rather than get them on the NHS. UK doctors can only prescribe e-cigarettes if they have been licensed as a ‘quit smoking aid’ but that requires strict regulation, the BBC reported.
Few manufacturers seem keen go down this route and instead will sell products to satisfy users’ desire for nicotine without the harmful chemicals produced by tobacco.
Meanwhile, sales of e-cigarettes have been rising steadily since they first went on sale in 2007 in the UK and, since 2012, they have replaced nicotine patches and gum to become the most popular choice of smoking cessation aid in England.
Around one in 20 adults in England uses e-cigarettes, and nearly all of these are ex-smokers or current smokers who are trying to use vaping to cut down or quit the smoking habit.
But that is the key word – ‘habit’ – and this is where hypnotherapy comes into its own as a treatment to help people quit smoking. For starters, clinical hypnotherapy is a non-invasive treatment which does not involve using substitutes like nicotine patches or e-cigarettes.
It is one of hypnotherapy’s success stories, says the National Council for Hypnotherapy (NCH), the largest not-for-profit professional organisation in the UK with more than 1,800 qualified and highly-trained therapists across the country.
Part of smoking is the ‘habit’ of lighting up, putting the ‘cigarette’ in the mouth, inhaling and then exhaling. This behaviour or habit is controlled by the subconscious mind – it is something that is done automatically. The subconscious mind is always creating mechanisms that support our needs. But sometimes things get distorted and what your subconscious thinks is a necessity becomes an unwanted habit.
But the good news is that we are in control and can change how we react to certain situations. We just need to know how to change and believe we can.
The reason why hypnotherapy works so rapidly with bad habits and behaviours is because it works directly with the subconscious, bypassing the critical mind and getting to the root of the issue so that changes can be made.
One study has shown that e-cigarettes can be addictive as the nicotine in them can cause dependency. There’s also a fear that the widespread use of e-cigarettes will normalise the consumption of nicotine, undoing the social changes which resulted from the smoking ban and making smoking socially acceptable once more. The British Medical Association is calling for a ban in public places.
If a person really wants to stop smoking, hypnotherapy can turn that desire into reality. Simply use the NCH directory by clicking here to contact a therapist near you.