Smoking cessation: Techniques and benefits

Tobacco dependency syndrome is an organic disease caused by chronic use of inhaled tobacco smoke. It is occasionally controlled by willpower alone, but often requires pharmacotherapy in conjunction with various techniques to manage the psychological manifestations. The two effective drugs are bupropion, which is an oral antidepressant, and nicotine, which can be administered by several modalities, including a skin patch, an oral inhalant, a nasal spray, and a chewable oral preparation. Successful therapy may require both drugs, and multiple simultaneous nicotine modalities. High-dose nicotine therapy may achieve an abstinence rate of 80% during therapy, but maintaining drug-free abstinence at such high levels over long periods is less successful, possibly because the tobacco smoke-induced changes in brain structure and function are not easily reserved.