People think that to give up smoking, all they have to do would be to replace the nicotine provided by the cigarette. There are many of products available, many non-prescription, that give an ample supply of replacement nicotine. However, they aren’t very effective. The reason people continue steadily to smoke is because of the Psychological Smoking Mechanism, not just a need for nicotine.
In this article, we shall look at some research on the potency of nicotine patches and gum.
The Nicotine Model of Smoking
Back the 1990’s, nicotine got called a highly addictive substance. It had been blamed for the reason people find it hard to quit smoking. Yet, using tobacco does not fit the definition of a chemical addiction.
In the nicotine model, craving nicotine is what keeps a person smoking. It followed that when nicotine could possibly be provided from a source apart from cigarettes, the smoker wouldn’t normally crave cigarettes. Thus, the person would stop smoking cigarettes by replacing the source of nicotine with a nicotine patch or nicotine gum. Then, the brand new source of nicotine could be gradually reduced over time before smoker’s “addiction” to nicotine was removed.
This would be a nice, simple solution if nicotine was the true driving force to smoke cigars. However, if there is some other reason people smoke, such as the Psychological Smoking Mechanism, supplying nicotine will never be a highly effective substitute. Let’s look at some research on the effectiveness of nicotine patches and gum.
The Research
Two products that follow the chemical addiction model of cigarette smoking are nicotine patches and nicotine gum. They’re superb products and do precisely what they say; they provide a very ample way to obtain nicotine. Since the smoker gets generous amounts of nicotine, which they are supposedly craving, the patches ought to be incredibly effective and take away the desire for a cigarette. But how effective are they?
Some research shows, (Davidson, M., Epstein, M., Burt, R., Schaefer, C., Whitworth, G. & McDonald, A. (1998)), only 19% of individuals on nicotine patches had stopped smoking at six weeks also it was reduced to 9.2% at six months. Looking at it another way, at 6 weeks, 81% of the people using nicotine patches were still smoking and at six months, about 91% were still smoking. Yes, 10% of these that had stopped were back at it again.
The outcomes for the gum was about the same. Despite the fact that the gum was providing the smoker with plenty of nicotine, at 6 weeks, 84% of the people were still smoking and at 6 months, 92% were smoking.
The study showed that the 8% – 9% of the people who had stop smoking using the nicotine patches and gum were highly motivated to give up smoking! parhaat nikotiinipussit In other words, these were removing their Psychological Smoking Mechanism.
A Real Life Example
A radio host was interviewing me about the Psychological Smoking Mechanism and in the course of the interview he told me that he was an ex-smoker. He said he had used nicotine gum to quit and it had taken him two years until he was finally off of cigarettes. TWO YEARS!
Consider that for a moment. The nicotine gum was providing a large supply of nicotine just as it is designed to do. Yet, this man was smoking AND chewing the nicotine gum. Basically, the gum, loaded with nicotine had not been substituting for the cigarette since it theoretical must have done.
Since the man wished to quit, he finally stopped after 2 yrs. But it wasn’t the gum, it had been him changing his Psychological Smoking Mechanism without even realizing consciously what he was doing. Similar to the 8% – 9% of individuals in the study study mentioned above.
Nicotine is Not the Motivator to Smoke
How much nicotine a smoker gets in one cigarette is quite small. Compare the cigarette to your body mass; it’s tiny and so is the quantity of nicotine it contains.
However, these very effective nicotine dispensing products, nicotine patches and gum contain nicotine. That’s what they’re designed to do; put adequate nicotine into the smokers system to, theoretically at the very least, replace the necessity to smoke a cigarette. However, most smokers have adverse reactions to these products because they are getting ultimately more nicotine than they ever did smoking. What does all this extra nicotine do?
According to the American Lung Association, side effects with the nicotine patch are:
Headache
Dizziness
Upset stomach
Weakness
Blurred vision
Vivid dreams
Mild itching and burning on the skin
Diarrhea
Yes, nicotine does have an effect on the smokers body. However, with all the current things that smoking does to the smoker, it generally does not produce the effects mentioned by the American Lung Association. That is another clue that nicotine isn’t the motivator to smoke.
Conclusion
If you pass the nicotine model to quit smoking, you will definitely be disappointed. The only method to quit smoking is to remove the Psychological Smoking Mechanism through the use of proven, psychological techniques. Once the mechanism is fully gone, so is smoking.
� Copyright 2010, R. Michael Stone
R. Michael Stone, M.S. – Counselor
33 years experience with subconscious communication and subconscious programming techniques.
Creator of The Unlearn Smoking Success System? – The program that provides you the powerful psychological tools essential to disassemble the Psychological Smoking Mechanism. This easy 28 day program helps you become, not an ex-smoker, but a Non-smoker. Find out how this program will help you permanently remove cigarettes from your life.