Welcome! I’m a Certified Tobacco Treatment Provider in private practice for 15 years. I've worked with over 5000 private clients and conducted over 100 public seminars. I was a heavy smoker myself for 30 years. I’m also a Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach — I use positive psychology interventions, cognitive behavioral techniques, neurolinguistics, mindfulness training, guided imagery and even hypnosis in my practice — so my answers often include references to attitude, perception, subjective well-being and the language of self-directed behavior change. Website: www.HypNoSmoke.com...

Nicotine doesn’t “make you concentrate” at all.  Nicotine is a rapid-onset, short-duration stimulant. If you have never used it before, or if you only use it rarely, the first dose is most likely to make you dizzy and lightheaded. That’s the drug effect, overstimulating your nervous system. Very difficult to concentrate in that mode at […]...

The main criteria for diagnosing drug/alcohol problems aren’t really based on whether other people have noticed — they are based on whether the behavior is causing harm or difficulty to the user. You self-define as ‘functional’ so perhaps your behavior does not cause you any harm or difficulty — in that case it’s nobody’s business […]...

“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.” – Inigo Montoya Democracy refers to a system of government (or other organization) in which all of the eligible members of the group have an equal voice in all decisions that are made, and in determining which actions are […]...

No pictures will scare a current smoker into quitting smoking. Every smoker has seen the “scary” pictures, and it just makes them feel worse about smoking. Making somebody feel worse about their behavior is not an effective means of motivating change. Some pictures might scare some kids into not starting to smoke. But it may also motivate […]...

Most of the chemicals that matter— the problem ones— are not added by manufacturers, they are built right into the natural tobacco, and they are only released when the tobacco is set on fire. “Pyrolysis” is the process by which organic materials are broken down into their constituent chemical elements due to extreme heat during […]...