People think that to give up smoking, all they need to do would be to replace the nicotine supplied by the cigarette. There are numerous of products that you can buy, many over the counter, that provide 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 just a need for nicotine.

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

The Nicotine Model of Smoking

Back in the 1990’s, nicotine got labeled as an extremely addictive substance. It had been blamed for the reason why people think it is hard to give up smoking. Yet, cigarette smoking does not fit this is 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 person would quit smoking cigarettes by replacing the foundation of nicotine with a nicotine patch or nicotine gum. Then, the new source of nicotine could be gradually reduced over time until the 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, like the Psychological Smoking Mechanism, supplying nicotine will not be a highly effective substitute. Let’s look at some research on the potency 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’re superb products and do precisely what they say; they provide a very ample supply of nicotine. Because the smoker is getting generous levels of nicotine, that they are supposedly craving, the patches ought to 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 and it was reduced to 9.2% at half a year. Considering it another way, at 6 weeks, 81% of individuals using nicotine patches were still smoking and at 6 months, about 91% were still smoking. Yes, 10% of these that had stopped were back at it again.

The outcomes for the gum was a comparable. 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 study showed that the 8% – 9% of the people who had quit smoking using the nicotine patches and gum were highly motivated to quit smoking! In other words, these were removing their Psychological Smoking Mechanism.

A Real Life Example

A radio host was interviewing me concerning the Psychological Smoking Mechanism and in the course of the interview he told me that he was an ex-smoker. He said he previously used nicotine gum to quit and it had taken him 2 yrs until he was finally from cigarettes. TWO YEARS!

Think about that for a moment. The nicotine gum was providing a large supply of nicotine just as it is made 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 should have done.

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

Nicotine is Not the Motivator to Smoke

How much nicotine a smoker gets in a single cigarette is very small. Compare the cigarette to your system mass; it’s tiny therefore 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 effects to these products because they are getting ultimately more nicotine than they ever did smoking. What does all this extra nicotine do?

Based on 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 impact on the smokers body. However, with the 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 is not the motivator to smoke.

Conclusion

If you pass the nicotine model to quit smoking, you are likely to be disappointed. The only way to quit smoking is to take away the Psychological Smoking Mechanism by using 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 provides you the powerful psychological tools essential to disassemble the Psychological Smoking Mechanism. This easy 28 day program can help you become, no ex-smoker, but a Non-smoker. nikotiini pussit Learn how this program may help you permanently remove cigarettes from your own life.