Hypnosis CAN’T help people stop smoking….HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

I haven’t had a laugh like this in years. Then I got mad and now I don’t know whether to ignore and let the ignorance of this news article to itself or to investigate and comment to the authors. Might do a little of both, haha.

 The article I refer to is here.

http://www.itnews.it/news/2008/0630080201783/no-place-for-hypnotherapy-and-acupuncture-in-an-evidence-based-nhs-stop-smoking-service.html

And I understand that by linking to this article I only increase its prominence but I feel the need to discuss.

I have been a student of the mind, NLP, hypnosis for many  years now, and now I’m hypnotherapist and work for (I’m honoured and humbled to say) the most successful hypnotherapy and training organisation in Brisbane for the last ….well for many many years, the Brisbane Hypnosis Centre www.brisbanehypnosis.com.au

In my sessions I make this comment or something like it to EVERYONE who comes for smoking cessation, that if for whatever reason they slip up, or heaven forbid, have a cigarette, don’t go through life thinking they are a failure or hypnosis is a failure, or it doesn’t work. But I make the offer to come back, and let’s help them tighten up what they learned at a conscious and an unconscious level and see what happened, what success they did have and build on that success. And despite this offer made to several hundred people, only a handful have taken me up on that offer. That, coupled with the many referrals I have had from people who have stopped smoking FOR GOOD, tells me that this articles’ claim that any long term success over, 20% did it say, is to ‘beware of.’

‘Smokers should beware of any treatment that claims to have a higher than 50 per cent short-term (i.e. four weeks after quitting) or 20 per cent long-term (i.e. after six months) success rate.’

 Here’s my guess. Dr Andy McEwen has just under a 20% long term success rate using whatever method he uses (and just under a 50% short term success rate) so anything that claims to be better than that is to be WARNED about.

I claim to have a 100% success rate. I am a very good hypnotist, so I know what to say, how to say it, using the right tonality and the right skills to induce and deepen an altered state and help influence the unconscious mind. I make it very clear that it isn’t ME, or this state called HYPNOSIS that is doing the smoking cessation though. I give the credit to the PERSON when they give up smoking. It is THEM that deserves the credit and in the same way, if they do NOT give up smoking, they deserve the credit for that as well.

I once saw a client who had previously seen Martin St James and David Kennedy for smoking cessation. Between these two legends of the hypnosis community they have about 400,000% more experice in hypnosis than I have (that figure is approximately accurate according to my research), and the fact that this client has now stopped smoking after seeing me this latest time is a point worthy of discussion.

I could get all egotistical and think I’m the all powerful hypnotist with these great skills because I could do what two of the absolute best of the best could not do. But anyone with half an understanding of hypnosis (and I’m not talking about an authoritarian ‘Look into my eyes and obey me’ type of hypnosis) will know that my thinking and arrogance would be unfounded. Martin I’m sure did a great job. I’ve not met Martin St James but have read his very good book a few times and he claims to have hypnotised over a million people in his career, so no doubt this man knows a thing or two about how to use hypnosis. And I am absolutely sure that David Kennedy, who can hypnotise the unhypnotisable (ie ME), did an absolutely superlative job. I don’t deserve the credit for this guy stopping and they don’t deserve the blame for him not stopping in the past. Only now was he ready to stop, and hypnosis was the thing that helped him instruct his unconscious that he was ready to stop, for his reasons, and now he’s ready to change a behaviour and a series of unconscious responses, that previously, for whatever reason, he was unwilling to do. It could have been anything. It even could have been him saying to himself, ‘..well I’m with Martin St James or David Kennedy and they’re such great hypnotists, then I won’t have to do any work, the HYPNOSIS will quit for me. Well no wonder he kept smoking. Hypnosis doesn’t do it, a person does.

in fact when our friend types this statement “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….” I wonder if he wasn’t closer to the truth than this Doctor realises. They were committed to stopping, and hypnosis assisted in making this commitment become a reality for them in their lives.

I’ll sum up by saying that the Brisbane Hypnosis Centre, www.brisbanehypnosis.com.au, that I am honoured to work at, has seen over 10,000 smokers for more than a decade and more than 70% of the clients there come by way of referral. Make up your own mind as to whether or not a business could be THAT successful if it was founded on the premise that all of those people ‘would have given up anyway.’

I apologise for the inflammatory tone of this article, but I guess when I see people reading this article and I picture them not coming to a skillful hypnotist because of misconceptions like this article, it gets my back up.

Anyway, I’ll get off my soapbox now. I’m quite happy with my level of success, and so are my teachers, employers, students and most importantly, my clients are SO often, getting the outcomes they are after, and if that’s the case, I don’t care who gets the credit, in fact I’d prefer it’s not me, too much pressure on me. haha.

Wonder if this will get the attention of Dr Andy McEwen Cancer Research UK Health Behaviour Research Centre Epidemiology & Public Health University College London? If so, I hope he comments and some healthy debate ensues. Kieren and Co, you up for it?

Comments appreciated. (and late at night so apologies for any spelling or grammatical errors)