People think that to give up smoking, all they have to do is to replace the nicotine provided by the cigarette. There are numerous of products on the market, many over the counter, that give an ample way to obtain replacement nicotine. However, they aren’t very effective. The reason people continue steadily to smoke is due to the Psychological Smoking Mechanism, not just a need for nicotine.

In this article, we shall look at some research on the effectiveness of nicotine patches and gum.

The Nicotine Style of Smoking

Back the 1990’s, nicotine got labeled as an extremely addictive substance. It had been blamed for the reason people think it is hard to give up smoking. Yet, using tobacco 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 other than cigarettes, the smoker wouldn’t normally crave cigarettes. Thus, the individual would stop smoking cigarettes by replacing the source of nicotine with a nicotine patch or nicotine gum. Then, the 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 real driving force to smoke cigarettes. However, if you have various other reason people smoke, such as the Psychological Smoking Mechanism, supplying nicotine will never 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 provide a very ample supply of nicotine. Since the smoker is getting generous levels 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. 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 a comparable. Even though the gum was providing the smoker with a lot of nicotine, at 6 weeks, 84% of the people were still smoking and at six months, 92% were smoking.

www.puffandpouch.com The study showed that the 8% – 9% of individuals who had stop smoking using the nicotine patches and gum were highly motivated to quit smoking! Basically, they were removing their Psychological Smoking Mechanism.

A Real Life Example

A radio host was interviewing me about the Psychological Smoking Mechanism and throughout the interview he explained that he was an ex-smoker. He said he had used nicotine gum to give up also it had taken him 2 yrs until he was finally off of cigarettes. TWO YEARS!

Consider that for a moment. The nicotine gum was providing a big supply of nicotine just as it is designed to do. Yet, this man was smoking AND chewing the nicotine gum. Quite simply, the gum, packed with nicotine was not substituting for the cigarette since it theoretical should have done.

Since the man wanted to quit, he finally stopped after 2 yrs. Nonetheless 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 research study mentioned above.

Nicotine isn’t the Motivator to Smoke

The volume of nicotine a smoker gets in one cigarette is quite small. Compare the cigarette to the 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 are 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 of 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 your skin
Diarrhea
Yes, nicotine has an impact on the smokers body. However, with all the current 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 likely to be disappointed. The only way to quit smoking is to remove the Psychological Smoking Mechanism by using proven, psychological techniques. Once the mechanism is 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 necessary to disassemble the Psychological Smoking Mechanism. This easy 28 day program can help you become, no ex-smoker, but a Non-smoker. Find out how this program can help YOU permanently remove cigarettes from your life.