teddiebears
10-25-2006, 11:56 AM
Hello all quitters!! :D
Alternatives for Giving Up Cigarettes
Have you tried unconventional approaches to stop smoking?
By Richard Trubo Reviewed By Michael Smith, MD
Each year, millions of people vow to finally kick the cigarette habit, only to watch their optimistic expectations go up in smoke. But if they've tried and failed with conventional smoking cessation approaches -- whether it's the use of nicotine gum, counseling, or behavior modification -- they often look outside the mainstream, motivated by the hope that alternative medicine might finally deliver them from a life cluttered with cigarette packs and tarnished by nicotine-stained teeth.
But both smokers and health-care professionals agree that the challenge of quitting remains formidable.
"When it comes to smoking cessation, there's no magic bullet -- I think everyone agrees with that," says Thomas Kiresuk, PhD, a clinical psychologist at the Minneapolis Medical Research Foundation and former director of the Center for Addiction and Alternative Medicine Research in Minneapolis, Minn. And while many alternative approaches are available -- ranging from acupuncture to guided imagery to self-hypnosis -- they're certainly no panacea, and for every smoker they help, they may leave another one frustrated and feeling a slow burn at the end of the day while they light up their next cigarette.
True, some people swear by the acupuncture needles stuck in their bodies or the nicotine-averse images implanted in their minds, crediting these unconventional techniques with thoughts of conquering their nicotine cravings for good. But when you examine all of the scientific research, the success stories are interspersed with the disappointments. "There's really nothing out there that has set itself apart as a winner in the treatment of smoking cessation," says Kiresuk, a professor in the department of psychiatry at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.
A Powerful Addiction
More than 50 million Americans smoke, and nearly 7 million more use smokeless tobacco. The numbers are even higher in other parts of the globe, with worldwide statistics showing that one out of three men and women over the age of 18 are smokers.
Without doubt, smoking remains a risky business. In the U.S. alone, tobacco kills more than 440,000 people each year, according to the CDC.
Yet most experts concur that no matter how strong your will for kicking the habit, there are some powerful, addictive forces plotting against you. Certainly, no single smoking-cessation technique works for everyone, and the failure rate can be discouraging, with most people quitting at least three times in the past before finally finding a way to stop for good.
"There's nothing more difficult than quitting smoking," says David Bresler, PhD, clinical professor of anesthesiology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and president of the Academy of Guided Imagery in Malibu, Calif. "No one smokes because it feels good and because they enjoy the feeling of hot toxic gases moving down their throat," he says. "These people are addicts -- they're addicted to nicotine."
Kiresuk agrees. "When you see what happens to people who are in the stages of withdrawal, you know that this is a very serious affliction," he says. Committed smokers, he says, are "willing to risk death to keep smoking."
Still, the alternative approaches to smoking cessation have a growing number of converts -- and they've turned some cigarette cravers into permanent ex-smokers. A primary benefit of most of these unconventional methods is their ability to empower people to change. "Individuals learn that they have control over their body that they didn't think they had before. It's a learning experience that prepares them to make changes like quitting smoking," says Kiresuk.
Hypnosis: Heightened Awareness
Along with weight management, smoking cessation is the most popular medical use of hypnosis. Using this technique, individuals enter a state of focused attention and concentration and become more susceptible to suggestions that weaken their craving for cigarettes and strengthen their will to stop.
However, when researchers at Ohio State University reviewed nearly five dozen studies of the use of hypnosis for smoking cessation, they concluded that while smokers participating in hypnosis programs were more successful in abstaining from cigarettes than smokers who did not use any stop-smoking intervention, this approach appeared to have no advantages over other popular stop-smoking programs.
"When you look specifically at the well-controlled clinical trials of hypnosis, they have not yet confirmed the benefits of this method," says Timothy Carmody, PhD, clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California San Francisco and director of health psychology at San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
At UCSF, Carmody and his co-researchers are conducting a carefully designed study to help definitively answer the question of whether hypnosis really works for smoking cessation. All participants are receiving nicotine patches (for eight weeks) and standard behavioral counseling, and half of them also have gone through self-hypnosis training sessions.
These individuals are taught to relax and enter an attentive, receptive state. "Then," says Carmody, "they're given suggestions for focusing on and strengthening their reasons for quitting smoking, and picturing themselves as nonsmokers effectively overcoming and reducing the experience of urges or cravings to smoke." The UCSF participants are being asked to practice the self-hypnosis technique at least once or twice a day, as well as use it as needed to successfully manage situations where they may experience a desire to smoke.
A unique component of the UCSF study is that it is not relying solely on patient self-reports of successful quitting. "Our patients who say they have quit provide a saliva sample, which is analyzed for the presence of cotinine," a chemical byproduct of nicotine, says Carmody.
to be continued.......
Alternatives for Giving Up Cigarettes
Have you tried unconventional approaches to stop smoking?
By Richard Trubo Reviewed By Michael Smith, MD
Each year, millions of people vow to finally kick the cigarette habit, only to watch their optimistic expectations go up in smoke. But if they've tried and failed with conventional smoking cessation approaches -- whether it's the use of nicotine gum, counseling, or behavior modification -- they often look outside the mainstream, motivated by the hope that alternative medicine might finally deliver them from a life cluttered with cigarette packs and tarnished by nicotine-stained teeth.
But both smokers and health-care professionals agree that the challenge of quitting remains formidable.
"When it comes to smoking cessation, there's no magic bullet -- I think everyone agrees with that," says Thomas Kiresuk, PhD, a clinical psychologist at the Minneapolis Medical Research Foundation and former director of the Center for Addiction and Alternative Medicine Research in Minneapolis, Minn. And while many alternative approaches are available -- ranging from acupuncture to guided imagery to self-hypnosis -- they're certainly no panacea, and for every smoker they help, they may leave another one frustrated and feeling a slow burn at the end of the day while they light up their next cigarette.
True, some people swear by the acupuncture needles stuck in their bodies or the nicotine-averse images implanted in their minds, crediting these unconventional techniques with thoughts of conquering their nicotine cravings for good. But when you examine all of the scientific research, the success stories are interspersed with the disappointments. "There's really nothing out there that has set itself apart as a winner in the treatment of smoking cessation," says Kiresuk, a professor in the department of psychiatry at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.
A Powerful Addiction
More than 50 million Americans smoke, and nearly 7 million more use smokeless tobacco. The numbers are even higher in other parts of the globe, with worldwide statistics showing that one out of three men and women over the age of 18 are smokers.
Without doubt, smoking remains a risky business. In the U.S. alone, tobacco kills more than 440,000 people each year, according to the CDC.
Yet most experts concur that no matter how strong your will for kicking the habit, there are some powerful, addictive forces plotting against you. Certainly, no single smoking-cessation technique works for everyone, and the failure rate can be discouraging, with most people quitting at least three times in the past before finally finding a way to stop for good.
"There's nothing more difficult than quitting smoking," says David Bresler, PhD, clinical professor of anesthesiology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and president of the Academy of Guided Imagery in Malibu, Calif. "No one smokes because it feels good and because they enjoy the feeling of hot toxic gases moving down their throat," he says. "These people are addicts -- they're addicted to nicotine."
Kiresuk agrees. "When you see what happens to people who are in the stages of withdrawal, you know that this is a very serious affliction," he says. Committed smokers, he says, are "willing to risk death to keep smoking."
Still, the alternative approaches to smoking cessation have a growing number of converts -- and they've turned some cigarette cravers into permanent ex-smokers. A primary benefit of most of these unconventional methods is their ability to empower people to change. "Individuals learn that they have control over their body that they didn't think they had before. It's a learning experience that prepares them to make changes like quitting smoking," says Kiresuk.
Hypnosis: Heightened Awareness
Along with weight management, smoking cessation is the most popular medical use of hypnosis. Using this technique, individuals enter a state of focused attention and concentration and become more susceptible to suggestions that weaken their craving for cigarettes and strengthen their will to stop.
However, when researchers at Ohio State University reviewed nearly five dozen studies of the use of hypnosis for smoking cessation, they concluded that while smokers participating in hypnosis programs were more successful in abstaining from cigarettes than smokers who did not use any stop-smoking intervention, this approach appeared to have no advantages over other popular stop-smoking programs.
"When you look specifically at the well-controlled clinical trials of hypnosis, they have not yet confirmed the benefits of this method," says Timothy Carmody, PhD, clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California San Francisco and director of health psychology at San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
At UCSF, Carmody and his co-researchers are conducting a carefully designed study to help definitively answer the question of whether hypnosis really works for smoking cessation. All participants are receiving nicotine patches (for eight weeks) and standard behavioral counseling, and half of them also have gone through self-hypnosis training sessions.
These individuals are taught to relax and enter an attentive, receptive state. "Then," says Carmody, "they're given suggestions for focusing on and strengthening their reasons for quitting smoking, and picturing themselves as nonsmokers effectively overcoming and reducing the experience of urges or cravings to smoke." The UCSF participants are being asked to practice the self-hypnosis technique at least once or twice a day, as well as use it as needed to successfully manage situations where they may experience a desire to smoke.
A unique component of the UCSF study is that it is not relying solely on patient self-reports of successful quitting. "Our patients who say they have quit provide a saliva sample, which is analyzed for the presence of cotinine," a chemical byproduct of nicotine, says Carmody.
to be continued.......