Study: Hypnotherapy most effective treatment for...

[Superman]

Quitting smoking. Just received this study through an email update and thought I would pass it along. I found it interesting.

I can link to the article on Medscape.com, but it can't be viewed without an account. I'll keep looking for a free link.

Hypnotherapy Outperforms Other Treatment Approaches for Smoking Cessation

October 23, 2007 (Chicago) — Of hospitalized smokers who receive hypnotherapy, 50% show sustained quit rates 6 months after discharge, investigators reported here at CHEST 2007, the American College of Chest Physicians 73rd Annual Scientific Assembly.

This is twice the success rate of smokers who quit "cold turkey," which is even higher than the sustained quit rate with nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), principal investigator Faysal M. Hasan, MD, of North Shore Medical Center in Salem, Massachusetts, reported yesterday during a news briefing.

Dr. Hasan and colleagues studied 67 patients admitted to their institution with a cardiopulmonary diagnosis and a willingness to stop smoking. Patients were divided into 4 groups. The control group quit smoking without any supportive treatment, a second group underwent hypnotherapy, a third group received NRT, and the fourth group received both hypnotherapy and NRT.

Patients selected their own treatment approach, which Dr. Hasan explained was strongly influenced by their previous experiences with smoking cessation, with most patients choosing a different method.

Women were more likely to choose hypnotherapy, whereas men were more likely to choose a patch or go cold turkey. The men were looking for the "quick fix," news panel moderator Frank T. Leone, MD, of the University of Pennsylvania Health System in Pittsburgh, commented.

At 26 weeks postdischarge from the hospital, 25% of the control group, 15.78% of the NRT group, and 50% of both the hypnotherapy and hypnotherapy-plus-NRT groups remained smoking free.

"Adding NRT did not help" improve efficacy of hypnotherapy, Dr. Hasan said.

Success rates were higher with a cardiac diagnosis than a pulmonary diagnosis, at 45.5% and 15.63%, respectively, he added.

Dr. Hasan told Medscape Pulmonary Medicine that motivation is the key to success in any treatment approach: "Patients made their own [treatment] choice — this is important," he said. "Smoking cessation is only going to work if the patient is motivated."

Virginia Reichert, NP, of North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System in Great Neck, New York, agreed. "We do anything we can to support the patient's willpower.... We need to offer whatever works."

"This concept of motivation is a mystery," Dr. Hasan commented. "It may be fear based, but you also need hope and frequent feedback.... As we say, you need the will, you need a pill — we couldn't rhyme with patch! — and you need Dr. Phil."

Both investigators stressed that many patients move from one addiction to another. "In general, every intervention doubles the success rate," Dr. Hasan said.

Ms. Reichert, Dr. Hasan, and Dr. Leone have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.

American College of Chest Physicians 73rd Annual Scientific Assembly: Abstract 6066. Presented October 22, 2007.

[PainRack]

Women were more likely to choose hypnotherapy

I wonder why?

[Broomstick]

Possibly because women are more likely to accept help from other people whereas men still feel an expectation to be self-reliant and solve problems entirely on their own....? Cultural/societal reasons, in other words, and yes that's a very general statement open to many exceptions.

[Rye]

Women were more likely to choose hypnotherapy

I wonder why?

Women believe in more new age crap. Sorry, but it's true.

[Aaron]

Speaking for me personally, it's because it sounds like junk science. It's the same reason why I haven't followed up on EMDR therapy for my PTSD, because it seems like junk science.

[Broomstick]

Hypnotism isn't entirely junk science - but junk science certainly uses it on occasion.

Hypnotism is an altered focus of attention, that's it. It is a tool, not a cure-all. It can help you maintain a resolve to change a habit, but it won't do it in a vacuum. In that sense, just like positive verbal support from friends and family can help someone change a bad habit, hypnotherapy can help a person change a bad habit. But the person has to truly want to change, because in the end hypnotism can not make you do something you do not want to do.

[Superman]

Possibly because women are more likely to accept help from other people whereas men still feel an expectation to be self-reliant and solve problems entirely on their own....? Cultural/societal reasons, in other words, and yes that's a very general statement open to many exceptions.

That was my thought too. Overall, we men are much more pig headed and reluctant to get help than women.

Hypnotism isn't entirely junk science - but junk science certainly uses it on occasion.

Right. Physicians use it as a clinical tool on occasion, and it is effective with some people. This shouldn't be completely surprising; it's like James Randi has shown time and time again, many people are very suggestible.

[Rye]

I should note that I'm not saying hypnotism is junk science, just that it's an "alternative therapy" that gets grouped with new age crap. Women are, I would guess, also more likely to use homeopathy and angel healing cards.

[Broomstick]

True enough, but again, I think that also is affected by cultural factors like fewer women learning science and logical thinking, less higher education (although that is evening out there are a still many from prior generations), and so forth. Low socio-economic status and education also leads to more New Age belief, although there are certainly some wealthy/educated people into it as well.

[Crown]

Possibly because women are more likely to accept help from other people whereas men still feel an expectation to be self-reliant and solve problems entirely on their own....? Cultural/societal reasons, in other words, and yes that's a very general statement open to many exceptions.

Ummm .... I'm not sure how that tracks to be honest. My sister is a Neural Psychologist and we were discussing hypnosis one day (probably watching one of those stage hypnosis shows) and she told me that in order for hypnosis to actually work the subject must be complicit with the suggestion i.e. you would only do something were willing to do anyway.

Assuming hypnotherapy follows the same rule (and I would assume it's pretty safe assumption), wouldn't the argument be; women are more sincere in their desire to quit, whereas men are more likely self destructive shit heads?

[Darth Wong]

True enough, but again, I think that also is affected by cultural factors like fewer women learning science and logical thinking, less higher education (although that is evening out there are a still many from prior generations), and so forth. Low socio-economic status and education also leads to more New Age belief, although there are certainly some wealthy/educated people into it as well.

I wonder whether male skepticism is really the result of logical thinking, as opposed to conformism. To wit, do most men reject "alternative therapies" out of hand because they have analyzed them and found the supporting evidence to be logically unsound, or do they reject them because they support the strength of the establishment, like any wolf following the pack?

[Broomstick]

I don't think it's an either/or question - some follow the pack, some have done research, some don't like it because it's "strange" or unfamiliar, etc., etc.

I wouldn't be surprised if there are differences in acceptance when you break people down by ethnicity, age, and other factors as well.

[Superman]

I wonder whether male skepticism is really the result of logical thinking, as opposed to conformism. To wit, do most men reject "alternative therapies" out of hand because they have analyzed them and found the supporting evidence to be logically unsound, or do they reject them because they support the strength of the establishment, like any wolf following the pack?

Speaking of "wolf following the pack," if we consider that archaic humans were probably sustained, in part, by male group hunting activities, it's not too much of a stretch to attribute behavior like this to a biological cause.