ABSTRACT
Malcolm, a 41-year-old bank executive, sought help controlling his two pack per day smoking habit. On his first visit he requested hypnotherapy to make him stop smoking. He was functioning well at work and at home as a spouse and parent, but his wife was troubled by the dangers of his smoking for both himself and his family. After a behavioral and psychodynamic assessment and an evaluation of his hypnotic talent as moderate, I treated him with hypnotherapy The treatment was initially dramatically successful with a brief period of not smoking. This was followed by a demoralizing relapse that led to a significant change in my approach to Malcolm and in my views on effective psychotherapy Malcolm was eventually able to achieve partial control of his smoking at a much reduced level of five or six cigarettes per day.
