X-factor and Britain's Got Talent boss Simon Cowell is a big smoker. He has been pictured many times smoking cigarettes and the habit has been with him for a long time. Recently there have been reports that he has tried hypnosis to quit smoking but it hasn't worked.

Why would that be...and what does it tell us about quitting smoking using hypnotherapy?

Speaking to The Sun Newspaper he said..

..he had another cigarette in his mouth within moments of leaving the session.

"I tried once to give up smoking, and the first thing I did when I walked out of the hypnotist's was light up a cigarette. I actually wanted one more," he said.

Clearly the failing was that of the hypnotherapist and not his. Some people think that hypnosis can make you do things that you do not want to do.

In fact Simon Cowell himself has helped to perpetuate this myth by being "hypnotised by a dog" on Britain's Got Talent. Hypnodog is a stage hypnotist act who travel student unions performing and entertaining people. When Simon encountered the dog in Manchester, he drifted off into a deep trance...apparently.

Of course, if a dog could hypnotise him them clearly he would have stopped smoking straight away with a professional hypnotherapist helping him wouldn't he?

Well, firstly ...can a dog hypnotise a person? I don't think so.  Here's what I told Jonathan Ross on BBC Radio 2 in an interview all about the incident...

So, if you listened to the interview above you will know that Simon Cowell was just playing along and not really hypnotised by a dog! IN fact the audience were asked not to boo the act on the day in Manchester as they could see that Simon was playing along...you don't see that on TV though !

Why didn't quit smoking hypnosis work for Simon Cowell?

The big question though is why didn't the hypnotherapy session work when he went to quit smoking? It's the fault of the hypnotherapist that he went to see. The truth about quit smoking hypnosis is that you cannot make anyone do something that they do not want to do. He has made it pretty clear that he really enjoys smoking so he doesn't sound committed to the idea of giving up. Hypnotherapy to help you quit smoking is very effective indeed. I know this because it worked so well for me that I now help others to kick the habit for good. 

But...it can only help you if you really want it to. If you have decided that you want to quit and are finding it difficult with will power alone or finding other aids like gum and patches are not helping then it can be great. If you don't really want to stop then it simply isn't for you. 

If anyone calls and asks me questions about how it works then I always ask them... "How much do you really want to quit smoking?"

If they are not sure then I would suggest that it isn't for them.

Make sense?  If you want to read more about how it works and how it can help you when you make that big decision to really stop then just click here:

 Quit Smoking via Skype or at my practice