Before the 1990's, the only ways available to quit smoking
involved counseling programs of one sort or another. They were either
conducted one-on-one by psychologists who specialized in smoking
cessation or commercially available programs that were taught in hotel
seminars.
During the 1990's, many pharmaceutical companies
introduced various products which introduce nicotine into the body of
the smoker in such a way as to not further damage the lungs. Since these
transdermal patches, mints, gums,vapors and electronic devices provide
the nicotine without the harmful effects normally found in smoking
tobacco, they were seen as a 'quick fix' and a relatively easy way to
quit smoking.
All of these products are classified by the Food and
Drug Administration as "Nicotine Replacement Therapies" (NRT), and,
with the exception of the electronic devices, are approved for human use
by the FDA. Once thought to be the "magic bullet" to solve the smoking
problem, they have seriously failed to live up to the promise
The
essential problem with these products is that. while they certainly
provide a source of nicotine to satisfy a smoker's craving, they do
absolutely nothing for the psychological or habitual aspects of the
smoking problem. It is just much more complex than a simple physical
addiction to the nicotine chemical!
For this reason, the relapse
rate for these products is extremely high! In fact, fewer than 20% of
the smokers who use these products are able to effectively quit smoking
and remain smoke free for 12 months or more.
An independent study
conducted at the Harvard School of Public and published in January of
2012, concluded that Nicotine Replacement Therapy products "are no more
effective in long term smoking cessation then quitting on one's own".
Smokers
who seriously desire to quit must use a comprehensive solution which
addresses the physical nicotine addiction while also managing the
habitual and psychological issues at the same time. Only such a
comprehensive approach will seriously help a smoker to quit gracefully
and to remain smoke free for a year or more.
If you use patches,
gums, mints, lozenges, vapors or electronic cigarettes devices to introduce
nicotine into your system. you can expect to relapse back to smoking
your full quota of cigarettes within a few weeks. You may be unaware of
the repetitive usage cycle that NRT products draw you into. As you
struggle to quit and remain smoke free, you will probably go through
many iterations of NRT use before giving up completely.
These
failures to quit are totally unnecessary! In fact, for most smokers they
leave you in a "failure state" in which you fail to quit smoking so
many times that you naturally come to believe that quitting is
impossible for you.
You owe it to yourself to commit to a
counseling program to more effectively quit smoking. They are rarely a
"quick fix", but they are far more effective. So, do your homework and
research the various counseling programs that do not use NRT products or
drugs as a "crutch". You will find local programs or several on the
Internet which can provide real and guaranteed results. You can Quit
Smoking!
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