People think that to give up smoking, all they need to do is to replace the nicotine provided by the cigarette. There are numerous of products in the marketplace, many over the counter, that give an ample supply of replacement nicotine. However, they aren’t very effective. The reason why people continue steadily to smoke is because of the Psychological Smoking Mechanism, not a need for nicotine.
In this article, we shall look at some research on the potency of nicotine patches and gum.
The Nicotine Style of Smoking
Back the 1990’s, nicotine got called an extremely addictive substance. It was blamed for the reason people think it is hard to give up smoking. Yet, cigarette smoking does not fit the definition of a chemical addiction.
In the nicotine model, craving nicotine is what keeps an individual smoking. It followed that when nicotine could be provided from the source apart from cigarettes, the smoker would not 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 as time passes until the smoker’s “addiction” to nicotine was removed.
This would be considered a nice, simple solution if nicotine was the true driving force to smoke cigarettes. However, if you have various other reason people smoke, including the Psychological Smoking Mechanism, supplying nicotine will not be an 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 using tobacco are nicotine patches and nicotine gum. They are superb products and do precisely what they say; they give a very ample way to obtain nicotine. Since the smoker is getting generous amounts of nicotine, that they are supposedly craving, the patches should be incredibly effective and remove the desire to have 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 people on nicotine patches had stopped smoking at six weeks and 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 those that had stopped were back at it again.
The results 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 individuals were still smoking and at six months, 92% were smoking.
The research showed that the 8% – 9% of the people who had stop smoking using the nicotine patches and gum were highly motivated to quit smoking! Quite simply, these were removing their Psychological Smoking Mechanism.
A GENUINE Life Example
A radio host was interviewing me concerning the Psychological Smoking Mechanism and in the course of the interview he explained he was an ex-smoker. He said he previously used nicotine gum to give up and it had taken him two years until he was finally from cigarettes. TWO YEARS!
Think about that for a moment. The nicotine gum was providing a big supply of nicotine in the same way it is made to do. Yet, this man was smoking AND chewing the nicotine gum. In other words, the gum, loaded with nicotine had not been substituting for the cigarette as it theoretical must have done.
Since the man wished to quit, he finally stopped after 2 yrs. www.puffandpouch.com Nonetheless it wasn’t the gum, it was him changing his Psychological Smoking Mechanism without even realizing consciously what he was doing. Just like the 8% – 9% of the people in the study study mentioned above.
Nicotine is Not the Motivator to Smoke
The quantity of nicotine a smoker gets in one cigarette is quite small. Compare the cigarette to your body mass; it’s tiny therefore is the amount of nicotine it contains.
However, these very effective nicotine dispensing products, nicotine patches and gum are loaded with nicotine. That’s what they are designed to do; put adequate nicotine in to the smokers system to, theoretically at least, replace the need 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, unwanted 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 the items that smoking does to the smoker, it doesn’t produce the consequences mentioned by the American Lung Association. That is another clue that nicotine is not the motivator to smoke.
Conclusion
If you pass the nicotine model to quit smoking, you are likely to be disappointed. The only method to quit smoking is to remove the Psychological Smoking Mechanism through the use of proven, psychological techniques. When 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 gives you the powerful psychological tools essential to disassemble the Psychological Smoking Mechanism. This easy 28 day program helps you become, no ex-smoker, but a Non-smoker. Learn how this program can help YOU permanently remove cigarettes from your own life.
