What Treatments Are Available To Help Quit Smoking? How Effective Are They?

Scientifically proven treatments can double a person’s chances of quitting smoking.
Smoking cessation treatments have been found to be safe and effective.        These include counseling and medications, or a combination of both.

• Face-to-face counseling and interactive telephone counseling are more effective than services that only provide educational or self-help materials.
• The effectiveness of counseling services increases as their intensity (the number and length of sessions) increases.
• Smokers are more likely to use telephone counseling than to participate in individual or group counseling sessions.
• The Food and Drug Administration has approved six first-line medications to help smokers quit:
  • Five are nicotine replacement therapies that relieve withdrawal symptoms. They include nicotine gum, patch, nasal spray, inhaler, and lozenge.
  • The sixth medication, bupropion SR (sustained release), is a non-nicotine medication that is thought to reduce the urge to smoke by affecting the same chemical messengers in the brain that are affected by nicotine.

Prescription and Over-the-Counter Tobacco Cessation Medications*

* Approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and addressed in the 2000 PHS Guidelines.

** Received FDA approval on October 31, 2002, therefore not addressed in the 2000 PHS Guidelines.

Tags: Stop Smoking