Smoking Cessation -- Outline Addictive Behavior

Smoking vs. illegal drugs

Desire to return to smoking

The business of smoking cessation

Dangers and the Surgeon General's warning

Smoking Cessation Programs

Pills

Patches

Nicotine Gum

"Cold Turkey'

Hypnosis

Support Groups

Smoking Education

Tobacco Companies

Parents

Smoking Cessation

Smoking cigarettes has been found to be even more addictive than using many illegal drugs. Because of this, those that choose to quit smoking often struggle with it, and many of them return to smoking, even after quitting for a long period of time. Some people that have stopped smoking years ago state that they still have the urge for a cigarette, especially when others around them are smoking. Smoking cessation has become a large and booming business as more and more people try to kick the habit to avoid many of the problems that smoking can cause, such as lung cancer and heart disease. Smokers, on average, die sooner than non-smokers, and they have higher instances of cancer and heart problems (Leary & Miller, 1986, Pearce, 2001). This does not mean that all smokers will suffer obvious ill affects, but enough of them do that the surgeon general has been putting warnings on cigarette packs for approximately 40 years. It is important, therefore, to look at the main ways that people attempt to quit smoking, and the success rates that these different ways have. It is also important to look at the education of smoking cessation that is offered to young people...

This makes some of the education area easier, but it is still difficult to educate many young people on the dangers of smoking because they generally do not take health problems seriously at their age (Pearce, 2001).
There are many different ways that people try to quit smoking. One of those ways is to use pills that are prescribed, and while these are being developed, they are not on the market yet. These pills interrupt the good feelings that many people get from smoking and therefore reduce the desire to smoke (Pearce, 2001). If these pills are put on the market, it is quite possible that many more people would be able to quit smoking, but like all medications, they will quite likely have side effects that may be problematic for some people. Another way to quit smoking is to use the nicotine patch. This patch is already available, and it is used to help put nicotine into the bloodstream so that the urge to light a cigarette is diminished. The patch works by gradually lessening the amount of nicotine received, thereby weaning the person off of the addiction to cigarettes (Legge & Leeper, 2002). The same idea is true for the nicotine gum that many people chew in an attempt to quit smoking (Pearce, 2001). It works basically the same way as the patch, but it also allows for the mouth to have something to do. Using the patch or the gum helps with the success rate, but there are still more people that go back to smoking than those that remain smoke-free. Those that cannot afford any special measures or those that do not wish to use them often choose to…