I tried hypnosis for smoking about 7 times.
The last one was this “Hypno wizard” in Leesburg VA, who everyone claimed was undefeated and could fix *anyone*.
On my fourth and final visit, after sitting there listening to her rambling “hypnosis chant” *again* for over an hour, she paused and snapped her fingers, to see if maybe I was “under”, *this time*.
And that point, I observed, “you know, you have a really nice library of books, many of which I also own”
[for all the sessions, I’d been sitting there looking at the titles and mentally comparing them to my own library, noting which ones I had and which ones I thought I’d like to add, later]
She told me to go home and not come back...just like the others did.
I tried hypnosis a couple of times many years ago and was also unable to be put under. It probably had something to do with the fact that I kept thinking, “Damn, this is stupid” the whole time.
Some people cannot be hypnotized under most clinical conditions. These are often people who prefer to remain in control of everything that happens to them.
Something in them refuses to go along with the suggestions.
Something that does not trust readily.