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Hypnosis can help smokers quit
By Connie Cartmell
The Marietta Times
ccartmell@mariettatimes.com

When he was a younger man, Don Mannarino was a smoker.

Today, Mannarino helps others quit smoking through the practice of hypnosis.
“I smoked quite a long time, until my right lung failed,” Mannarino, of Solon (near Cleveland) said. “Fear worked for me to make me quit. Today fear doesn’t work, but logic does.”

Mannarino is a professional clinical hypnotist, helping people throughout Ohio quit smoking, but you won’t find him swinging a watch on a chain or a crystal during his sessions.

“Unless someone is expecting that,” he said. “Then I might.”

The sound of his voice is all Mannarino needs to help individuals or groups of people prepare to stop the bad habit of smoking.

“Swinging a watch just gets the eyes tired,” he said with a laugh. “What I do is set a soothing and relaxing atmosphere so a person is more receptive to the suggestions.”
Hypnosis works, he said.

“A recent study by the Ohio State University School of Nursing shows that for people who have had hypnosis to quit smoking, after 12 to 15 months, 53 percent are still not smoking,” Mannarino said. “The number for all other programs is 10 to 15 percent still not smoking.”

Carol Vroom, of Marietta, was part of Mannarino’s hypnosis clinic at Selby General Hospital in February and is still a non-smoker today.

“I’m not sure if it was the hypnosis that did it, but I’d go back and do it again,” she said. “The hypnosis seemed to work for a little while, but I feel like I need reinforcement. The whole time I was in the hypnosis program, I was thinking about smoking.”

Mannarino said this is a common concern and that reinforcement is a big part of any hypnosis program.

“Once you learn self-hypnosis, it’s yours forever,” he said. “But you must practice it.”
Vroom said anything a person tries to quit smoking is good.

“I recommend anything to quit smoking,” she said.

“People first need to change their thought process. You are born a non-smoker,” Mannarino said. “Hypnosis has the ability to influence thought patterns and change them.”

Hypnosis to quit smoking is considered an alternative to the usual ways folks deal with nicotine withdrawal, including replacement therapies such as patches, lozenges, inhalers, and chewing gum. Drugs are available with a prescription, although there can be side effects and you need to be under a doctor’s supervision.

Hypnosis, acupuncture, and other less mainstream treatments work for many.

Mannarino has been the exclusive hypnotist working with the American Lung Association of Ohio 20 years. He offers classes in his Solon clinic and throughout the state. He’s been providing hypnosis sessions for weight gain and smoking cessation in Marietta, through Selby General Hospital and the Washington County Tobacco Prevention Project, since February.

Mannarino will be back in Marietta at 6 p.m. Tuesday, July 19, for the next clinic at Selby. The fee is $50 and those interested should phone to register. Clinics will also be offered on alternate Tuesdays and Saturdays in August, September, October and November.

Walt Newlon, coordinator of the Washington County Tobacco Prevention Project, said hypnosis, as a tool to quit, has a comparable or higher success rate than other quit programs.

“The figure I’ve heard is 36 percent still not smoking after hypnosis — six months later,” Newlon said. “A full 50 percent are successful in quitting initially, according to the American Lung Association.”

Hypnosis is only one program offered through the Project at Selby.

There are also support groups, Fresh Start, a four-session stop program, and Loose the Chew groups and programs.

Newlon said smokers who are motivated to quit benefit from various programs, with some more comfortable with one than another. A review of smoking cessation products and services found that smokers are up to four times more likely to stop smoking by attending smokers’ clinics and support groups, rather than by using willpower alone.

Mannarino, who worked with the American Lung Association of Ohio as exclusive hypnotist more than 20 years, and has been a hypnotist 27 years, has a master of Arts degree from John Carroll University in counseling and human services and has additional training from the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis, the Proseminar Institute and the Cleveland Psychological Association.

He has also worked with the American Heart Association of Ohio over six years.
A long distance runner, Mannarino is also a weight lifter and enjoys community theater. His wife is a first-grade teacher and his two children are both students at Ohio University in Athens, studying geology and dance.

There were about 25 people at the session Vroom attended in February. She said she was amazed he could hypnotize a group that large — all at the same time.

“Marietta is a great place for a support group because everybody seems to know, or at least recognize, one another,” Mannarino said. “We’ve seen about 100 people there and it’s been an excellent experience. I’m looking forward to returning.”