Go to rehab
"Smoking is an addiction - just like being a heroin addict or an alcoholic," says Dr Robert Lefever, founder of the Promis Centre, which treats nicotine addiction. "Part of the problem is facing up to the fact that you're an addict." A Royal College of Physicians report, Nicotine Addiction In Britain, states that nicotine is as addictive as heroin, and the American Psychiatric Association also regards smoking as an addictive disorder. "As with any addiction, the hardest part is not the giving up," says Lefever, "it's the staying off. If you're an addictive personality type, it's very easy for your brain to get hooked on any substance or behaviour that has a mood-altering effect. This is where a classic 12-step rehab programme can help. The best results for addiction always come when people work in groups - it's much easier to break the habit if you have a support network to fall back on." Contact the Promis smokers' clinic on 020-7581 8222.
Try therapy
A recent study by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, in Bethesda, Maryland, suggests that smokers are more likely to suffer from psychiatric and mental health problems, including depression, panic, mood and anxiety disorders, obsessive compulsive disorder, agoraphobia, social phobia and specific phobias. If you want to give up successfully, you need to look at underlying emotional issues. To stay off the cigarettes, you also need to develop new coping strategies. Psychotherapist David Brooks suggests seeking professional help, such as psychotherapy or counselling.
Hypnotherapy
The latest findings from the British Society of Medical and Dental Hypnosis show that hypnosis has a 60% success rate in helping people give up smoking (in a single session). In another recent study, reported in the Journal Of Applied Psychology, which involved 72,000 people in the US and Europe, hypnosis came top as the most effective therapy to help people give up smoking. "The best way to stop is to get your brain to link having a cigarette to pain," says hypnotherapist Marissa Peer. "Smokers associate pleasure with smoking, and pain with not smoking - they've got it completely the wrong way round. During hypnotherapy, you are guided into a state of deep relaxation. This induces a highly suggestible state, in which it's much easier - using visualisation and guided imagery - to reprogramme negative, destructive thought patterns into positive thoughts that can help you give up."
Allen Carr
Allen Carr set up the Easyway method in 1983, after giving up his own 100- a-day habit. The organisation now has a global network of stop-smoking clinics, an international bestseller (Allen Carr's Easy Way To Stop Smoking, Penguin, £8.99) and ringing endorsements from experts at the World Health Organisation, Cancer Research UK, University College London and the Royal London Hospital. What's the secret? "The Easyway is a combination of psychotherapy, hypnotherapy and neurolinguistic programming," says Carr therapist John Dicey. "You have one four-hour session with a therapist talking about the positive aspects of giving up. You do a few simple relaxation exercises. And, if you want to, you can smoke. Groups consist of about 20 people." There's also a money-back guarantee if it doesn't work. A session costs £220, but readers get £30 off if they quote this article. Call 0800 389 2115 for details.
Acupuncture
Practitioners recommend three treatments over three weeks. Needles are inserted in points in the ear to reduce cravings, and in the body to stimulate organs to help improve overall health. "When the acupoints in the ears are stimulated, the brain produces natural, opiate-like substances called endorphins," says Professor MF Mei, chairman of the Chinese Medical Institute and Register, and founder of Acumedic. "These have a moodboosting effect and reduce the craving for nicotine." Acumedic has centres across Britain and its Anti- Smoking Programmecosts £99 for three sessions. Call 020-7388 5783.
Homeopathy
Key remedies for treating withdrawal symptoms include nux vomica, for sickness, tension and irritability; ignatia, for the more hysterical type who is also prone to headaches; and staphysagria, for those hypersensitive to environmental stimuli (eg, noise) and who get angry easily. These remedies can be taken two or three times a day (30c potency) for a few weeks, or until symptoms disappear. Other remedies include caladium (30c) and daphne indica (30c) to ease physical cravings. For a local practitioner, contact the Society of Homeopaths, 01604 817890 (homeopathy-soh.org).
The NHS
"Between April 2004 and March 2005, the NHS smokers' clinics helped nearly 300,000 people to stop smoking. Latest figures show that one in two people who attend is still not smoking four weeks later," says Paul Hooper, of the West Midlands Public Health Group. So what happens at a smokers' clinic? "In some areas, there are group meetings; in others, you'll get oneto- ones in all sorts of settings - GP's surgery, town hall, pub. Wherever you meet, it's free and you will be given all the help, support and advice you need to help you give up smoking. This includes advice on nicotine replacement therapy, which may include patches, gum, inhalators, nasal sprays, microtabs and lozenges [available on prescription]." For details of a local smokers' clinic, call 0800 169 0169.
