People think that to quit smoking, all they have to do would be to replace the nicotine supplied by the cigarette. There are a variety of products that you can buy, many over the counter, that give an ample supply of replacement nicotine. However, they aren’t very effective. The reason people continue steadily to smoke is due to the Psychological Smoking Mechanism, not a need for nicotine.
In this article, we shall look at some research on the effectiveness of nicotine patches and gum.
The Nicotine Model of Smoking
Back in the 1990’s, nicotine got called a highly addictive substance. It was blamed for the reason why people think it is hard to give up smoking. nikotiinipussit netistä Yet, cigarette smoking does not fit the definition of a chemical addiction.
In the nicotine model, craving nicotine is what keeps a person smoking. It followed that if nicotine could possibly be provided from a source apart from cigarettes, the smoker wouldn’t normally crave cigarettes. Thus, the individual would quit 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 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 some other reason people smoke, including the Psychological Smoking Mechanism, supplying nicotine will not 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 style of cigarette smoking are nicotine patches and nicotine gum. They are superb products and do precisely what they say; they give a very ample supply of nicotine. Since the smoker gets generous levels of nicotine, that they are supposedly craving, the patches should be incredibly effective and take away 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 individuals on nicotine patches had stopped smoking at six weeks also it was reduced to 9.2% at half a year. Considering 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 results for the gum was about the same. Even though the gum was providing the smoker with plenty of nicotine, at 6 weeks, 84% of individuals were still smoking and at 6 months, 92% were smoking.
The research showed that the 8% – 9% of the people who had stop smoking utilizing the nicotine patches and gum were highly motivated to give up smoking! Put simply, these were removing their Psychological Smoking Mechanism.
A GENUINE Life Example
A radio host was interviewing me concerning the Psychological Smoking Mechanism and throughout the interview he explained he was an ex-smoker. He said he previously used nicotine gum to quit 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 designed to do. Yet, this man was smoking AND chewing the nicotine gum. Put simply, the gum, loaded with nicotine was not substituting for the cigarette as it theoretical should have done.
Since the man wanted to quit, he finally stopped after 2 yrs. Nonetheless it wasn’t the gum, it was him changing his Psychological Smoking Mechanism without even realizing consciously what he was doing. Similar to the 8% – 9% of the people in the study study mentioned above.
Nicotine is Not the Motivator to Smoke
The number of nicotine a smoker gets in a single cigarette is quite small. Compare the cigarette to your system mass; it’s tiny and so is the amount of nicotine it contains.
However, these very effective nicotine dispensing products, nicotine patches and gum contain nicotine. That’s what they’re made to do; put adequate nicotine in to the smokers system to, theoretically at 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 of this extra nicotine do?
In line with 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 your skin
Diarrhea
Yes, nicotine has an effect on the smokers body. However, with all the items that smoking does to the smoker, it generally does not produce the consequences mentioned by the American Lung Association. This is another clue that nicotine is not the motivator to smoke.
Conclusion
If you pass the nicotine model to give up smoking, you are going to be disappointed. The only way to quit smoking would be 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? – This program that provides you the powerful psychological tools necessary to disassemble the Psychological Smoking Mechanism. This easy 28 day program helps you become, no ex-smoker, but a Non-smoker. Find out how this program will help you permanently remove cigarettes from your own life.
