Once you've set your mind on quitting smoking, you have an
important decision to make; just how do you plan on going about it?
There are plenty of recognized methods out there (along with lots more
unconventional ones!) and statistics are a very long way from declaring a
clear winner.
To the contrary, an overview of meta-analysis of
the methods most commonly employed by wannabe quitters makes depressing
reading, with nicotine replacement therapies such as patches and gum
scoring from 3 to 17%, and prescription medications averaging just 18%.
Chantix,
the drug that not so long ago was being hailed as an industry
game-changer, is currently the subject of multiple lawsuits as a result
of alleged side effects that include suicidal and delusional thoughts as
well as cardiac issues. Personally, I've witnessed a guy become so
deeply paranoid that he threatened his family whilst taking this drug,
and even though he eventually quit smoking okay, I feel that the means
can't always justify the end!
Therapies generally score better,
with acupuncture, group counselling sessions, hypnotherapy and workplace
meetings all scoring between 25 and 36%. I incline strongly to the
opinion that these significantly higher success rates reflect a greater
realism amongst the participants - these people have correctly figured
out they need psychological support to break their habit, rather than
medicine.
Of all the data available, the only studies showing
reliably measured success rates above 40% involve patients with heart
disease. I guess the subjects were especially highly motivated, seeing
as the consequences of failing to quit would, in so many cases, have
proven particularly unfortunate?
This raises two extremely
important points, namely the significance of statistics and motivation.
The highest recorded success rate found by any empirically validated
study into smoking cessation is 42%, and yet it's far from difficult to
find businesses out there claiming much higher rates, such as 95%!
Well,
just try asking these guys which organization independently verified
their results? Because any statistics that haven't been confirmed by a
follow-up breath test after 12 or 26 weeks simply shouldn't count, and
it's pure mischief to presume that every client who doesn't bother to
come back and complain was a success story!
Remember that all any therapy can ever do is help you to quit smoking, and so it's hardly an auspicious start if the provider begins by lying to you about his track record!
Having
said that, one easy way for any therapist to attain a genuinely high
success rate would be to refuse treatment to all but those who are
obviously highly motivated to quit - because when it comes to giving up
smoking, motivation really is everything.
Anyone who's
reached a decision, at the deepest level, that they simply don't want to
smoke any more, is going to succeed in quitting, whichever method they
happen to employ. And if they choose to work with a therapist, then all
he or she needs to do is guide them along the road to success.
Of
course, we can hopefully speed up that journey, by helping them avoid
some of the bumps along the road - presuming we're any good at our jobs!
Paul R Mather is a certified hypnotherapist and the owner of
Cerulean Therapies, a company specializing primarily in helping people
to quit smoking. For more information, please visit http://www.quitclever.co.uk
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