Hypnotherapy
and nicotine addiction
Is nicotine addictive?(*
see Georgina's comments at the end of this article)
In February 2000, the Royal College of Physicians published a report on
nicotine addiction which concluded that “Cigarettes are highly efficient
nicotine delivery devices and are as addictive as drugs such as heroin
or cocaine.” Two years earlier, the report of the Government’s
Scientific Committee on Tobacco and Health stated that: “Over the
past decade there has been increasing recognition that underlying smoking
behaviour and its remarkable intractability to change is addiction to
the drug nicotine. Nicotine has been shown to have effects on brain dopamine
systems similar to those of drugs such as heroin and cocaine”. Both
the RCP and SCOTH reports confirmed the findings of the landmark review
by the US Surgeon General in 1988 on nicotine which also concluded that
cigarettes and other forms of tobacco are addictive and that nicotine
is the drug in tobacco that causes addiction.
Despite these authoritative reviews, there has been some
debate about the extent to which the smoking habit is controlled by physiological
addiction. The debate has arisen because there is no universally accepted
definition of addiction although the World Health Organization has defined
addiction as: “A state, psychic and sometimes also physical, resulting
in the interaction between a living organism and a drug, characterised
by behavioural and other responses that always include a compulsion to
take the drug on a continuous or periodic basis in order to experience
its psychic effects, and sometimes to avoid the discomfort of its absences.
Tolerance may or may not be present.” On the basis of this definition,
it is possible to demonstrate a scientific basis for defining nicotine
as an addictive substance.
Properties of nicotine
Nicotine is a stimulant drug, but paradoxically effects of both stimulation
and relaxation may be felt. The mental and physical state of the smoker,
and the situation in which smoking occurs, can influence the way in which
a particular cigarette will affect psychological perceptions. The addictive
effect of nicotine is linked to its capacity to trigger the release of
dopamine - a chemical in the brain that is associated with feelings of
pleasure. However, recent research has suggested that in the long term,
nicotine depresses the ability of the brain to experience pleasure. Thus,
smokers need greater amounts of the drug to achieve the same levels of
satisfaction. Smoking is therefore a form of self-medication: further
smoking alleviates the withdrawal symptoms which set in soon after the
effects of nicotine wear off.
Quitting with
Hynosis
Possibly one of the strongest indicators of the effect of nicotine is
the discrepancy between the desire to quit and quitting success rates.
Surveys have shown that the majority of smokers (around 70 per cent) want
to stop smoking yet the successful quit rate remains very low. Twenty
per cent or less of those who embark on a course of treatment succeed
in abstaining for as long as a year, while only around 3 per cent succeed
in quitting using willpower alone. Most smokers take several attempts
to quit before they finally succeed. The power of addiction is also demonstrated
by the fact that some smokers are reluctant to stop smoking even after
undergoing surgery for smoking-induced diseases. Around forty per cent
of those who have had a laryngectomy try smoking soon afterwards, while
about 50 per cent of lung cancer patients resume smoking after undergoing
surgery.
Other measures of dependence
There are a number of markers which can measure dependence on a substance.
A key factor is the degree of compulsion to take the drug experienced
by the user. Most smokers smoke on a daily basis. In Britain, the average
self-reported consumption of cigarettes is 14 per day. Fewer than 1 in
20 smokers smoke less frequently than daily. Other indicators of dependence
include the time from waking to first cigarette. Among smokers of all
ages, 15 per cent light up within five minutes of waking, while almost
half of all smokers (46 per cent) smoke within the first half hour of
the day.9 Few smokers believe that they could manage to go without smoking
for a whole day. Eighty-one percent of smokers who smoke 20 or more cigarettes
a day say that they would find it difficult to go a whole day without
smoking.
Nicotine withdrawal symptoms
Another marker for addiction is the occurrence of withdrawal symptoms
following cessation of drug use. For smokers, typical physical symptoms
following cessation or reduction of nicotine intake include craving for
nicotine, irritability, anxiety, difficulty concentrating, restlessness,
sleep disturbances, decreased heart rate, and increased appetite or weight
gain. The fact that these symptoms can be attributed to nicotine, rather
than behavioural aspects of tobacco use is shown by the finding that withdrawal
symptoms are relieved by nicotine replacement therapy (gum, patches, etc.)
but not by a placebo (i.e. products that do not contain nicotine).
Genetic Influence
Recent research suggests that certain smokers may be predisposed to nicotine
addiction through the effects of a gene responsible for metabolising nicotine.
Scientists have found that non-smokers are twice as likely to carry a
mutation in a gene that helps to rid the body of nicotine. In addition,
smokers who carry mutations in the gene, (known as CYP2A6) are likely
to smoke less because nicotine is not rapidly removed from the brain and
bloodstream. By contrast, smokers with the efficient version of the gene
will tend to smoke more heavily to compensate for nicotine being removed
more rapidly.
Tobacco industry recognition
of the importance of nicotine
Tobacco industry documents dating from the 1960s have shown that tobacco
companies recognised that the main reason that people continue smoking
is nicotine addiction. A lawyer acting for Brown & Williamson said:
“Nicotine is addictive. We are, then, in the business of selling
nicotine, an addictive drug. Publicly, however, tobacco companies denied
that nicotine was addictive, because such an admission would have undermined
their stance that smoking is a matter of personal choice. As the US Tobacco
Institute put it in 1980: “We can’t defend continued smoking
as ‘free choice’ if the person was ‘addicted’.
The industry was also quick to realise that selling an addictive product
is good for business: as a BAT memo said in 1979, “We also think
that consideration should be given to the hypothesis that the high profits
additionally associated with the tobacco industry are directly related
to the fact that the customer is dependent on the product.” In March
1997, Liggett Group, the smallest of the five major US tobacco companies,
became the first to admit that smoking is addictive as part of a deal
to settle legal claims against the company. More recently the tobacco
companies have tried to cast doubt over the meaning of addiction by comparing
smoking with other common pursuits such as shopping or eating chocolate.
Unless otherwise stated, the above information is taken from: http://www.ash.org.uk
*Georgina's comments:-
In
spite of all the above scientific statements, it is apparent that the
mind, the imagination and the desire to stop smoking can be stronger than
the bodily "addiction"(your mind is immensely more powerful
than you realise!). If your good reasons to stop smoking are more important
to you than your reasons to keep on with the old habit - hypnotherapy
with Georgina will support your innermost desire and help you to reprogramme
your conscious mind AND your subconscious mind to believe that you are
now a Non-Smoker, and as long as this continues to be your strong desire
there is every reason for you to continue to succeed! Its's easy with
hypnotherapy!
Pick
up the phone today for an appointment with Georgina.
01536
522770
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