Yes indeed, I have today read conclusive evidence that proves without a doubt that yes, a whopping 94% of specialists working in NHS stop smoking services are total, complete and utter idiots. There can be no quibbles over this at all, just have a read and look at my evidence…
Today, I read a press release at ITNews website and I am sure the press release is going to be found at many other places all over the internet and here is what it says:
Smokers wishing to quit would be wasting their money if they use complementary therapies such as hypnotherapy or acupuncture — smoking cessation experts claim today (Monday, June 30).
This and other issues around the most effective ways to help smokers quit will be discussed at the UK National Smoking Cessation Conference in Birmingham on 30 June & 1 July 2008.
Dr Andy McEwen, assistant director of tobacco studies at Cancer Research UK’s Health Behaviour Research Centre and programme director for the conference, said: “There is no good research evidence to show that hypnotherapy or acupuncture increase a person’s chance of stopping smoking. You may hear people who are convinced that these, or other complementary therapies, helped them stop smoking — but there is no way of knowing whether they would have stopped anyway.”
“Anyone who is ready to quit would be more successful by getting in contact with their local NHS Stop Smoking Service for specialist advice and treatment. There is no easy way to stop smoking and if something seems too good to be true, it probably is.”
Well Dr McEwen, it is never going to ‘be easy’ with authority figures like you ramming your negative message down their necks, is it?
Who is to say that people going to NHS stop smoking services would not have stopped anyway?! What a ridiculous argument… If someone was ‘going to stop anyway’, why go to a hypnotherapist at all?
Grrr…
Tell me what exactly does the NHS stop smoking service offer? Zyban and its millions of detrimental side effects? Nicotine replacement therapy of some kind? Shown in various studies to be virtually impotent! (Not to mention though, the multi million pound pharmaceutical industry are likely to be happy with anyone promoting NRT, especially someone influencing NHS policy!) Or maybe some NHS ‘specialist’ with a list of all the scary things that can happen to you if you do not stop smoking in a vain attempt to scare you into stopping?
I mean, come on… There is evidence applenty demonstrating the efficacy of hypnotherapy for stopping smoking. If I had a very close relative at deaths door with a smoking related illness, then I would not send them to an NHS stop smoking clinic.
Now this is where I get my evidence for my provocative blog entry title today, the article continues:
Conference delegates will be debating the motion that ‘This house believes that hypnotherapy and acupuncture should be treatments provided by NHS Stop Smoking Services’.
It is likely that the motion will be defeated if findings from the first Annual Smoking Cessation Practitioner Survey are an indication of what those in the field believe. An online survey of nearly 500 specialists working in NHS Stop Smoking Services found that 94 per cent would not recommend hypnotherapy, and 94 per cent would not recommend acupuncture, to smokers wanting to quit.
! (Head explodes!)
Well who made the NHS specialists experts on the efficacy of Hypnotherapy..? Surely, they are not often actually allowed to offer hypnotherapy to NHS patients as hypnotherapy is not approved on the NHS, they are just puppets (how I wanted to write Muppets) of the larger message being spouted by the likes of Dr McEwen… Or is this just a non-educated refusal to refer?
Either way, this sort of stuff makes my blood boil… 94% of stop smoking specialists cannot think for themselves… 94% of NHS Stop smoking specialists are ignorant… oh heck, 94% of NHS stop smoking specialists are idiots!
(And exhale Adam)… Aaahhhh… That feels good… Off to do some Sedona Method releasing now…
Interesting post. I had a good look at this and while Dr.McEwen is right that the Cochrane Review shows that there is no overall evidence for hypnotherapy being effective with smoking, the picture is very mixed.
Some studies, as you say, show very positive benefits from it. Others show no benefit at all. You’d normally hope to see similar results from similar studies – the fact that we don’t suggests that the research has missed some component of effectiveness.
I reckon that component is the way hypnotherapy is done. I suspect that the studies that showed poor results used poor quality hypnotherapy methods i.e. reading one script to all participants, while the positive studies used better methods i.e. tailored approaches for each different participant.
There’s more detail I could go into, but that gives a general idea of why the evidence isn’t as cut and dried as Dr. McEwen suggests.
Thanks Phil… I agree.
Only last week, I was whinging about a piece of reserch showing the efficacy of hypnosis for stopping smoking, yet the methodology used was ridiculous and in conjunction with NRT!!
How does one get to be an NHS stop smoking specialist?
I am going on a (free) course at the NZ National Heart Foundation to train as a smoking cessation provider. Three reasons. One, I may actually learn something. Two, it gives me a piece of paper I can wave around. And three, I can get listed on various websites as a qualified cessation provider.
They are totally in love with NRT, but there’s nothing that says I have to offer it if I don’t think it’s the best intervention for the client (which I predict I won’t).
Thanks for that Mike.. Enjoy waving your piece of paper around 😉
I know you’ll do some good working from the inside… Infiltrating the system from within! Yeah!
I once spoke to an NHS nutritionalist who claimed hypnotherapy was no good for dieting. She didn’t seem to believe that very strongly but she did dismiss my suggestion that I should get some help from a hypnotherapist.
I am 17 and my mam is a stop smoking specalist and i can tell you that she along with many other peiople have helped stop thousands of people stop smoking and it is not to do with any advertising on the tv it is simply the support they give to their clients. I dont believe for 1 second that 94% of stop smoking specialists are idiots and if you believe that people who are trying to save peoples lives are idiots i would like to see what you are doing to help the sitution.
Well Nicole, I consider myself well and truly told off.
Maybe calling 94% of the NHS stop smoking specialists idiots was a little over the top… But it is research by other people that says 94% of NHS stop smoking specialists that are ignoring hypnosis and its efficacy in helping people to stop smoking.
People who ignore such a remedy when they are supposed to be specialists could be seen as behaving idiotically 😉
Myself, and many other hypnotherapists have also helped thousands and thousands of people to stop smoking and much research has proved hypnotherapy to be one of the most effective ways to stop people smoking.
That is what I am doing to help the situation… Thousands of audio sessions all over the world helping people… Advice to local government… Books on the subject… Free articles of advice… That is also what I am doing to help the situation.
If I am honest, I believe ‘support’ can be gotten anywhere – what is so specialist about that set of skills?
Many stop smoking specialists in my area simply prescribe Nicotine Replacement treatments which are proven to be very poor.
Maybe your Mum is in the 6%. Maybe your Mum is truly specialist – in fact, I am sure she is. I hope she is making a difference. My belief is that the specialists could be making much more of a difference if hey were actully aware of ways to do heir job even better.
Maybe I am fed up with the NHS refusing to notice that people could be helped dramatically with the use of hypnosis.
Nicole, thank you posting here.
Hello Adam, I am a NHS stop smoking ‘specialist’ (your use of inverted commas, not mine!). Hopefully you’ll consider my colleagues and I to be part of the lucky 6% that you don’t classify as idiots (!) as we are currently in the process of introducing an acupuncture service for our clients. In defence of the other 94%, I would say that I think it’s a bit rude to assume that we’re all out to scare smokers into submission and that we rely totally on the use of medication to support our clients. We come from a variety of backgrounds, are required to have a good standard of education and have a portfolio of different approaches that we can use depending on a client’s needs (motivational interviewing, NLP to name but a few). It sounds like you’re doing some great work with smokers but so are we, so don’t write us off. Let’s all work to provide smokers with whatever they need to get them off the evil weed for good, whether that be NRT, MI, hypnotherapy or the whole damn lot!
Cheers
Agreed!
Well communicated… Thank you for your contribution.
I am delighted you took the time to write here and I am delighted to hear of the wonderful work you are doing and that you are more open than research might be suggesting at a higher level.
(Walks off humming in line with that pop song… “It’s my blog and I’ll be rude if I want to….”)
😉
I’m a bit late to the conversation but enjoyed the info and review. As a benefit, I am paying for my property manager to quit smoking. I will have her integrate acupuncture, hypnosis and NHS treatment. Plus give her $10 for every pack she would have purchased on a weekly basis. I want her cravings GONE and I want her to be rewarded on every front. She’s a damn good employee and every year I get with her healthy will be worth the money. And she’s ready! Thank God!
It took me 2 years to fully Quit Smoking, it is really difficult to Stop smoking and you need lots of self discipline to stop the cravings on cigarettes.
Well done Adam for sticking to what you believe in,people are still very archaic in the belief if you cant see it,it doesn’t exist, that’s probably why there’s still a stigma attached to mental health and depression.I have heard of many people who have had hypnosis for helping with various things and its worked for them, I am sure in time to come the more people speak out the higher the chances of this becoming part of a recognized treatment.I have quit smoking on numerous occasions,the longest being 5 years the shortest three hours!! I have tried cold turkey to all the nicotine replacement therapies to no avail, when that addiction gets a hold of you it doesn’t wanna let go so I really believe if you can get to the root of the addiction which is deeply stemmed somewhere deep in your brain you will have a better fighting chance of kicking the habit once and for all.