Evidence wiki
Habits & Behaviour
Habit change. Smoking-cessation evidence is graded here. Treatment and booking live on the clinic pages.
- Carmody 2008: hypnosis plus nicotine patchesModerate evidenceCarmody and colleagues randomised 286 smokers to hypnosis plus nicotine patches or counselling plus patches. Differences at 6 and 12 months were not statistically conclusive.Last reviewed 27 August 2026
- Cochrane 2019: hypnotherapy for smoking cessationModerate evidenceBarnes and colleagues (2019) reviewed 14 RCTs of hypnotherapy for smoking cessation. Insufficient evidence of a greater long-term benefit than other support or no treatment.Last reviewed 27 August 2026
- Does hypnotherapy work for smoking cessation?Moderate evidenceThe short answer from Cochrane 2019: we cannot say hypnotherapy beats other stop-smoking support or no help. If it helps, the extra benefit looks small.Last reviewed 27 August 2026
- Hypnotherapy for smoking cessation: the evidenceModerate evidenceGrade B: hypnotherapy is a studied behavioural option for quitting smoking. Cochrane 2019 found insufficient evidence that it beats other support or unassisted quitting. If a benefit exists, it is small at most.Last reviewed 27 August 2026
- Single-session versus multi-session smoking hypnotherapyMethods / mechanismSmoking-hypnotherapy trials are not one dose. Protocols range from a single visit to multi-session packages. Cochrane could not pool them as one method.Last reviewed 27 August 2026
- Smoking hypnotherapy: frequent questionsModerate evidenceShort answers on whether hypnotherapy helps smokers quit, the 90% claim, session count, patches, and what the trials actually compared.Last reviewed 27 August 2026
- The 90% smoking-hypnotherapy success claimModerate evidence“Quit in one session with 90% success” is a marketing line. Cochrane’s 14 RCTs do not support it. Uncontrolled clinic reports are not that evidence.Last reviewed 27 August 2026
- Viswesvaran and Schmidt 1992: smoking-cessation meta-analysisMixed / preliminaryViswesvaran and Schmidt (1992) compared quit rates across many smoking-cessation methods. It is historically influential and not the current evidence filter for hypnotherapy.Last reviewed 27 August 2026
- What we don't know about hypnotherapy for smokingModerate evidenceOpen questions after Cochrane 2019: a large independent verified trial, safety reporting, who responds, dose, and remote delivery.Last reviewed 27 August 2026