During the initial interview and pre-talk I started asking him questions using Meta Model Information gathering techniques. My line of questioning was as follows:

1. What do you want to accomplish? What do you want out of this session?

He answered, he wanted to quit and be a non-smoker.

2.Using advance Meta model techniques, I asked him WHY do you want to stop smoking? Then I paid careful attention to how he was responding, so I could learn his representational system and his perceptual style.

I was also looking to see which mental strategies is he following, for instance is he moving away or toward, is he self-motivated or by others, matching or mismatching, generalized or specific, convenience or cost, negative or positive, and so on.

He started replying by saying, "I want to quit because it is very hazardous to my health. I start to get breathless so quickly when I want to walk or run. I am constantly coughing, my wife doesn't like the smell of cigarette, and I also do not want my newly born son to see me smoking. I am afraid he may also learn and pick up this bad habit from me." And of course he added, "It is too expensive. I am paying $12.00 for these freaking cigarettes every day."

I noticed his perceptual style was negative, moving away from pain, and externally motivated (He wanted to quit because of his wife and son.). He was more concerned about the cost of the cigarettes than the comfort of being smoke-free and healthy, and it certainly wasn't a high priority for him before his son was born, but now it is very important and very high in his priority list to quit smoking, so the source of his rationality to quit was emotional and feeling based rather than logical.

Then I asked him, what has stopped you until now to quit smoking?

He told me that both of his brothers and all his friends smoked saying,, " I have been smoking for almost 20 years now and up until now I really didn't think it can become such a strong and hazardous habit. I always thought I am not addicted to cigarettes and I can quit smoking anytime I desired because I believed I had a strong will-power. But harder I decide to try quit smoking, harder it becomes."

I realized by his answers that he has associated the sense of security and a sense belonging to smoking because the people who had loved and supported him in the past had also smoked. Therefore he subconsciously had a secondary gain to stay a smoker, even though consciously he wanted to quit.

Then I asked him, "What kind of resources do you already have which can help you achieve that?"

He said, "I have a supportive wife, good friends, and most importantly, I am completely ready to allocate money and time to achieve this goal."

Then I asked him, "What additional resources do you need now? And what will be your first step?"

He told me that he believes hypnotherapy can work for him, and he asked me to work with his condition.

I started the process by feeding back the information that he gave me during the pre-talk and information gathering process to him. I had found out that his perceptual style is negative, moving away from pain, specifically, externally motivated, co-dependent, price conscious. So I used the same pattern of language to start the therapy with him, by saying for instance, by taking this action now and deciding to get rid of this horrible, dangerous, and expensive habit, you will naturally save lot of money because you won't need to spend $12 a day (2-pack of cigarettes), which saves you about $4,380 per year. Plus you won't be short of breath during your daily activities. Your wife won't nag about the awful smoky smell of your clothes, and most importantly, your son won't learn and pick up this horrible and costly habit.

But in order for the therapy to be useful, I had to resolve his inner division, which was a subconscious need to smoke because he had associated the feeling of security, love and acceptance by his peers and his brothers, and his conscious decision to quit smoking. So, as we can see, he had a hidden secondary gain in his subconscious mind. So first I explained to him that he doesn't need to smoke anymore to feel belonged and loved by his loved ones. They accept him and love him anyway. In fact, he would be loved, accepted and respected more if he became a non-smoker.

As we know, if there is no harmony between the two levels of mind (conscious mind and subconscious mind), the therapy will not be effective. Usually the inner hidden desire of the subconscious mind wins the battle, because emotions are more powerful than logic and will power when it comes to mind's decision making process.

After explaining to him the hidden facts about his habit and his inner division, I used the Visual Squash technique to bring these two opposing parts together. And I also gave him strong and positive suggestions while he was hypnotized.

And I am proud and happy to say that he is right now a non-smoker.

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