If you go to the doctor to ask about quitting smoking, he or she will undoubtably offer you Champix. Champix (generic name: varenicline and marketed in the USA as Chantix) certainly helps some people in stopping smoking. It also results in many cases in depression, anxiety and suicide. In the end, people who take it only stay off for a few months at the most. In Queensland the coroner is reviewing deaths from people who took champix
Doctors even prescribe Champix to people who are taking antidepressants. Not only do these people have previously known psychological issues but also the interaction of Champix and other drugs is not known.
As is often the case, the personal anecdotes differ immensely from the official view. Officially the view is that any side effects are primarily as a result of quitting smoking, not the drug. However there are no recorded suicides from people who have quit smoking cold-turkey or with hypnotherapy (although there is a correlation between smoking and suicide generally, which is not surprising as people with mental illnesses more often than not, smoke).
Hypnotherapy is benign and works on the principle “First do no harm”. The long-term success rate is much better than champion and we work with you if any problems arise.