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…