Is this medical device bogus?

waht

First of all I don't smoke, never have. My dad is a heavy smoker, and finally me and my family made him undergo some therapy to quit smoking after some acquaintance recommended some guy. So my dad went there, and viola, he is now repulsed by cigarettes, and didn't smoke for a week now. Great, we are all delighted.

My dad also gave me a model of the machine that was used to rid of the addiction. He essential held two electrodes and listened to the docs sort of hypnosis. It's this:

http://www.emreview.org.uk/equipment...com_report.htm

I immediately realized this is bogus. There is no such thing as "bio-resonance" is there? He was cured because he believed. The machine certainly makes an impression of complexity, and advancement. It's just sad my dad believes otherwise.

DaveC426913

Nono, perfectly sound science if you ask me ... just read this:

"The principle behind this treatment process is one of detecting and altering the frequency information with which cells communicate with each other. In health this form of communication is harmonious. With ill-health this cellular communication is impeded by additional dis-harmonious frequency patterns radiating from bacteria, viruses, toxins etc. This interferes with the body's own regulatory powers and in turn impairs the bodies functions. The Bicom detects and transforms these frequency patterns into therapeutic magnetic waves. The therapeutic patterns are combinations of healthy (harmonious) frequencies, pathogenic (dis-harmonious) frequencies and mirror image (inverted) frequencies. The mirror image frequencies are designed to counteract (cancel out) dis-harmonious frequencies, be healthy frequencies are designed to enhance the bodies good energies and the pathogenic frequencies are designed to aggravate and expose dis-harmonies. "

zoobyshoe

I guess any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology.

Moonbear

Yep, looks completely bogus, unless it's just doing something simple like delivering an electric shock to couple a painful stimulus with smoking (though, unless your father was smoking while using it, even that doesn't make sense). I'd be curious to know how long your father's perceived aversion to cigarettes lasts. It may be that all he needed was confidence in his own willpower to give up the cigarettes and get through the physical withdrawal, and a gimmick is what it took to get him to draw upon his own willpower when that confidence was previously lacking. It fits in with things like placebo effects. There certainly seems to be an interesting psychology to how these things that do nothing physically can have such strong effects on how a person recovers from something on their own.

waht

Yet it worked, hehe. One 45 min session costs $150 dollars USA. That is downright insane.




An acquaintance that recommended this therapy also smoked two packs a day. After two sessions he didn't smoke for more than two months now. He said he had an urge one day and lighted one cigarette, but felt a sudden nausea, and a need to vomit. He said he will never touch a cig again. My dad is on a good way to total recovery, after 40 years of smoking, and god knows how many attempts to quit.

This effect is certainly related to placebo. The fact that such a gimmick can project a sense of power over people is a paradox, but for me it supports a hypothesis that human mind is just deluding itself.

DaveC426913

Personally, I think it suggests that humans are more interested in comfort than in efficiency. We can do almost anything we set our minds to, it's the just the "setting our minds to it" that's the hard part.