Guy named Yefim Shubentsov. Apparently able to completely cure smoking and other addictions in a single session. You would think if the guy was for real, it would be more common for people to go to him rather than struggle on for years with these issues. But I’ve never heard any informed critical comment. (I found only one prior thread but it did not have anything beyond uninformed skepticism.)
I myself actually have a BIL who went to this guy and did in fact stop a long smoking habit. But I keep forgetting to ask him about it, and have only heard second-hand about his discussions with other family members.
Anyway, if there’s some genuine informed commentary out there from intelligent people who have looked into it, I’m interested.
I don’t know about the Mad Russian. Some people can stop smoking by just reflecting on how stupid it is to pay rich people to make you smell bad and slowly kill you.
Some can’t. I recommend Chantix/Champix (whatever trademark it goes by in your locale). I quit a 25 year pack a day habit in two months. Start taking it and just keep smoking as usual. After a week or two you just stop smoking voluntarily because it doesn’t do anything for you anymore.
" Quitters, Inc. " is a short story by Stephen King, first published in King’s 1978 collection Night Shift .
Richard “Dick” Morrison, a middle-aged smoker, is at John F. Kennedy International Airport when he runs into Jimmy McCann, his old college roommate and ad agency coworker. McCann, who had been a heavy smoker in college, credits a firm called Quitters, Inc. for helping him kick the habit and recommends that Dick try their services. The firm has a 98% success rate and guarantees that the person will never smoke again.
I also have the paperback version of that book. Got it in the 80s but not from any book club. I think I have a hardcover copy of it around here somewhere as well. Not sure.
Anyway, getting back to the OP, the Mad Russian’s reviews on Yelp are definitely not 98% positive, more like 78%.
One of the negative reviews notes this:
So apparently that 98% number was rectally generated (he pulled it out of his backside).
You can read through both the positive and the negative reviews if you want a better idea of what folks are saying about him. The negative reviews are pretty harsh.
ISTM that you’ve confused the Steven King story (which has a claimed 98% success rate) with Shubentsov (who said less than 1% return).
As for the latter claim, you would have to see the context to judge the validity. As TriPolar observed, if the treatment was worthless then you wouldn’t come back, so if the context of his claim was the “success rate”, then it doesn’t mean much. But many people who try various smoking (or addiction) programs have their issues with relapses rather than with no success, and such people might return (as some of the Yelp reviewers said they did).
I saw the 98% from google and thought that this was the number that had been mentioned in the thread, so in that sense yes I did confuse them, but I was actually referring to his actual claimed success rate.
And if you look at where that number comes from, with absolutely no follow-ups at all, as I said, the number appears to be rectally generated. It can’t possibly be based on anything because he didn’t gather any data to measure it. It’s a completely bogus number that he made up.
OK. Though IMO you need a better source that he’s actually making such a claim before ridiculing him for it.
In any event, on looking around a bit in response, I saw this NYT article from 1998 which contained the following:
Does it work? Though he is hard to pin down, Mr. Shubentsov suggests that his success rate is more than 90 percent, an astonishing figure, and one that seems like an exaggeration.
And
In the early 1980’s, Mr. Shubentsov’s method was observed by two psychotherapists from Harvard University Health Services, Dr. Douglas Powell and Dr. Henry Babcock. They sent him 20 patients, who complained of phobias, pain and a desire to stop smoking and lose weight. All had been previously treated by Dr. Powell and Dr. Babcock, with little success.
‘‘He did some pretty good work, it was pretty impressive,’’ said Dr. Powell, director of research and behavioral science at Harvard University Health Services. ‘‘These were pretty difficult patients, and he had about 50 percent success.’’
The first quote would suggest that he’s not claiming a 98% success rate, and the second would suggest (albeit based on a small sample size) that he’s possibly upwards of 50% (based on the 50% with “pretty difficult patients” who had been unsuccessful with conventional treatments).
