| Billions of dollars are spent on Nicotine Replacement | | | | you that it was not very hard for many smokers to |
| Therapy (NRT) to quit smoking. Yet facts show that | | | | quit and it's ridiculous to buy into the myth that nicotine |
| after a mere 6 months, a whopping 93% begin to | | | | is as addictive as heroin. Almost every ex-smoker I've |
| smoke again.* | | | | spoken to has quit in an instant burst of what is |
| The reason NRT fails so many is that it ignores the | | | | commonly known as an Ah Ha! moment -- they just |
| basic ABCs or what I call the 3Cs of smoking | | | | "decided" and quit. Not too many heroin addicts can do |
| addiction. In interviewing more than 500 smokers, I've | | | | that. |
| concluded that there are three sides to the smoking | | | | Yet, even smokers that succeeded really can't explain |
| problem: | | | | how they did it. Yet the easiest way to quit is to have |
| Side 1: Conditioning: This can be summarized as "the | | | | this Ah Ha! moment too. Sure, not every quit story is |
| force of habit". | | | | like this, but dig deep enough and you may be |
| Side2: Coping: This is basically dealing with life, or | | | | surprised at how many smokers simply "just quit". |
| summarized as "a crutch". | | | | I'm not saying that it's easy to quit, and it is quite |
| And last and maybe least, | | | | common that quitting takes multiple tries, but what I'm |
| Side 3: Chemical dependency; usually simplified as | | | | saying though is that once the power of decision is |
| nicotine addiction. | | | | released it can become easy. How does one make |
| When looked at in this way, smoking is minimally two | | | | the powerful decision and quit without struggle? |
| parts mental and one part physical. What many don't | | | | Most hypnotists know the secret to unlocking this |
| acknowledge is that strong urge can be caused by | | | | power, we use words like congruence and reframing, |
| the emotional side of the smoking addiction. Think | | | | but one thing is for sure, the battle of smoking can be |
| about it, if the urge was caused by nicotine, why do | | | | won between the ears and hypnosis is one of the only |
| smokers still want to smoke when wearing the patch? | | | | modalities that gets to the root cause of the smoking |
| In my opinion, smoking is primarily an emotional | | | | problem -- the thought process and habits of the |
| addiction of the mind. | | | | smoker. |
| When we acknowledge the complexities of the | | | | *(Hughes, Shiffman, et al 2003). |
| addiction, it makes sense that NRT fails more than it | | | | **(Fiore et al., in press; see discussion of related issues |
| succeeds. Before NRT was the common "cure" for | | | | in Fisher et al. 1988). |
| quitting, 90% of smokers quit naturally.** It may surprise | | | | |