Marie, I do not think it invalid, there has been a lot of research into hypnosis and smoking cessation that shows a much lesser success rate, some may even think (myself included) “more realistic.”

You do a good job of being an advocate of Valerie’s work.

Best wishes, A.

Your remark about the ‘dated’ 1968 study for stop smoking research is invalid criticism because there has been no new scientific research that has yielded better results than Von Dedenroth methodology. The problem is there is a lack of funding for hypnosis for stop smoking cessation. If it was a new type of drug then it could get all kind of funding from the pharmaceutical companies!

I trained with Valerie in the early 90’s and still visit her workshops from time to time. She has always been a strong advocate of not giving a guarantee. She believes that it could create a conflict of interest with the subconscious in some cases and therefore reduce the success rate overall. You will find this if you read her books and I couldn’t find anything to state otherwise in her various websites.

Best wishes,
M

Marty, thank you for sharing that analogy and for your contribution here.

I’ll certainly be advising one and all as soon as I release the new audio programme about anxiety relief.

Best wishes, A.

Hello Marie,

Thank you for your contribution here. Please do let me know which page you are referring to about the success rate claim and I am happy to stand corrected. I was referring to this page on her site: http://www.stopsmokinginonehour.com/research where she quotes a rather dated 1968 study by Von Dedenroth who demonstrated a success rate of 94% over an 18-month period with no less than a 1,000 smokers. She then quotes:

“Valerie was very pleased to find that that her Stop Smoking In One Hour technique has similarities to Dedenroth’s work and not surprisingly has been able to reach a comparably high success-rate using advanced techniques and a very concentrated hour of therapy.”

Rather than claiming the same 94% success rate as she did some years ago, she now claims to have similar results but does not commit to it outright. She indeed does not offer guarantees, but as you can read from this site, she used to.

I am certainly not suggesting that everyone needs to believe the exact same theory as myself and the organisations that I belong to, not at all Marie, I welcome other viewpoints and indeed reckon it wise at times to point out valid, peer reviewed, quality research to help clients make an informed choice.

That said, there are a bunch of reasons not to do so, that I think I have highlighted without need for repeating, in my blog entry here.

Good to hear from you, best wishes, A.

There’s an old Pagan thing (well, I may be merging together a lot of sources here and adding my own flavour to things) that goes a little something like this:

You have two people facing each other over an open chasm. Both want to get past this chasm and meet each other and enjoy some happy times. But there is no bridge. And at that moment, one person says “I am the bridge”. Or perhaps they don’t even need to say it but they show it in their body and in their expressions. And the other person recognises this and replies: “I am the bridge”. And these two people ground themselves like a tree digging its roots into the soil. They each become secure in who they are as people right now. So secure that they call to and embrace each other despite the physical distance between them.

For a few moments, the agreement is made and the bridge is formed. Two people working together to move each other beyond something and into new experiences. Two people being a bridge to a better place for both of them.

That’s how I like to see the therapy relationship.

Just been listening to your Adam Up newsletter and heard you mention a forthcoming audio programme about anxiety. Well, I spend a lot of my time on forums about anxiety, social anxiety etc and working with people with anxiety issues so if I can be of any assistance in helping you market the programme when it is released, let me know.