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Many state governments have prohibited smoking in public areas. Hospitals have mandated smoking cessation, and are punishing employees who smoke during work hours. Persons who smoke huddle in bad weather, and smoke away as hurriedly as they are able in order to go back to their jobs.

In some towns, smoking is as controversial as taking illegal drugs. these and other stop smoking benefits, a significant number are making a strong effort to identify ways to stop smoking.

The addiction of smoking is made up of three components:

1. People smoke for relaxation and pleasure. This makes up about 45% of the smoking habit.

2. Another reason that people continue to smoke is an unconscious connection between cigarettes and pleasurable locations or activities. Then, when people find themselves in these situations, they desire a cigarette. For example, if a person associates watching television with smoking, they will become conditioned to smoke while watching TV. Then, every time that individual watches television, he or she will want a cigarette.. This component is responsible for nearly 45 percent of the smoking habit.

3. People smoke because they develop a physical addiction to Nicotine. About ten percent of the reason people smoke is because of this addiction.. Within only three days of quitting, a person's body is completely Nicotine-free!

Several alternatives are designed to assist individuals find ways to quit smoking. One of the most inexpensive ways to stop smoking, which is reimbursed through the majority of insurance underwriters, is the nicotine patch. These products, which are simple to apply, are used for 24 hours and can be secreted beneath the wearer's clothes. The problem with these patches, however, is that they are not very effective. Because nicotine patches only deal with the actual addiction, which makes up only about 10% of the smoking habit, only about seven percent of the people who use this method will succeed.

A very similar degree of effectiveness characterizes nicotine gum or lozenges. Not even one in ten individuals who trial these products succeeds with these ways to quit smoking for as long as six months. Worse, these items can result in many adverse effects. Nicotine gum or lozenges, are known to be bothersome to the users' gums as well as the lips, while a significant percentage of people have skin discomfort beneath the patch. Again, nicotine replacement therapies only deal with the physical dependence, which only makes up approximately one-tenth of the habit.

Another approach is the implementation of counseling and smoking cessation programs. Such courses include behavior modification techniques as well as intensive education concerning the adverse outcomes of smoking. These approaches are three times as beneficial as nicotine replacement methods; about one-fifth of those who try these programs will succeed in quitting for at least six months.

A considerable number of smokers have utilized laser treatment programs to help quit smoking. This treatment is in some cases paid for by insurance, although it is new. Clinical studies held by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), however, have found that these treatments are no more successful than placebo. (Placebo is when people believe they are receiving therapy, but really are not.)

One of the ways to quit smoking has demonstrated slightly more benefit than these previous ways. In one study, smokers received shots to assist them stop smoking by removing the 'buzz' of the nicotine rush. This method, in the preliminary stages of testing for benefit, thus far seems to work for fifteen percent of the patients who used it.

Hypnotherapy is an alternative approach to helping clients to stop smoking. Hypnotherapy deals with re-teaching the subconscious mind to instantaneously substitute other activities to provide calm and pleasure, in place of the smoking addiction. It is also utilized to remove or "extinguish" conditioned responses like the association described between smoking and activities mentioned earlier, so the person who smokes loses the desire to smoke when in the locations that formerly trigger it.

Men seem to have better results with stop smoking hypnosis than female clients do. One benefit of self hypnosis stop smoking, however, is that, in contrast to individuals use nicotine replacement as approaches to stop smoking, there are no irritating side effects.

One other positive aspect of hypnosis is that it works on the 90 percent part of the problem that is psychological, as opposed to the other strategies that merely work against the 10% part of the problem that is physical. This is why hypnosis offers a significantly greater treatment success than the previously mentioned strategies for smoke cessation. Customary hypnosis approaches can yield a 35 percent success rate, while Ericksonian hypnosis can yield a 50% or greater treatment success.

A more recent, revolutionary, and certainly better alternative that helps individuals to overcome a cigarette addiction is Neuro-Linguistic Programming, or NLP. This approach is far more successful than established methods of quit smoking hypnosis since it avoids reliance on post-hypnotic suggestions at all. The majority of clients, particularly those who tend to be analytical in nature, are resistant to post-hypnotic suggestions. Through the use of NLP, the person's unconscious mind is trained to use the identical cognitive patterns that trigger the mental problem with smoking, to eliminate it!

A good NLP stop smoking strategy created by a trained NLP professional can promise a success rate of as much as 70% and higher.

Summary: Most smoking cessation methods try to use nicotine replacement therapies as ways to stop smoking. Alternative techniques, like smoking cessation and cognitive or behavioral treatment sessions, try to help the mind use ways to quit smoking.

Even though hypnosis is more effective than other approaches, especially with men, most people do not rate it as the most useful way to stop smoking. NLP, which addresses the mental facets of the smoking habit, actually coaches clients to redirect their thought processes and assist them stop most effectively.

Because 90 percent of a person's problem with smoking is psychological in nature, these methods are significantly more successful than merely replacing the nicotine and coping with the 10% component of the dependency that is physical.

Conclusion: A wide range of smoking cessation sessions, such as nicotine replacement therapy and counseling are available. These courses typically are often less than 20 percent successful. In contrast, hypnosis results in a significantly greater likelihood of effectiveness. NLP is even more beneficial in coaching individuals to effectively overcome the mental component of their addiction and experience much more success in their goal of becoming smoke-free.

Alan B. Densky, CH is the developer of the easy way to quit smoking with hypnotherapy. He now offers an effective Quit Dipping Tobacco program based on those same techniques. See more at his hypnotherapy MP3 downloads site where you can enjoy Free hypnotherapy videos and articles.