There are three central concepts underlying the Clean Break Online Program:

 1. Temptation is Inevitable

 2. Deprivation

 3. The Delusional System

You are an addicted smoker. One consequence of this is that you will always have cravings, at least occasionally. If you accept these desires to smoke as a fact of life and know how to cope with them, they present no problem whatsoever. It is perfectly possible to want to smoke, to choose not to, and feel great about your decision.

But if you try to avoid these cravings and aspire to become someone who has no desire to smoke, you are doomed to frustration and failure. You are trying to do something you can never do, and be something you can never be. That "climbing the walls" feeling you may get when you try to stop smoking is not really the craving--it's wanting the craving to go away and not being able to get rid of it.

Clean Break Online will teach you how to coexist comfortably with your desire to smoke. You will not need to fear or avoid situations where you might want to smoke, such as socializing with smoking friends. You will expect to get cravings sometimes, and know exactly how to cope with them.

This is the most easily grasped distinction between Clean Break Online and other smoking cessation programs. Traditional methods all have one common goal-- to help you avoid your cravings.

For purposes of contrast, let's briefly look at these traditional methods:

Aversion therapy--The most popular method in the 60's and 70's. Aversion therapy means training yourself to connect some unpleasant stimulus (electric shock, bad smell, horrible noise) with smoking, so that you begin to think of smoking itself as unpleasant, something you don't want to do. Programs based on aversion therapy often produced impressive short-term results. However, they have been largely discredited because their long-term results are so low. You do want to smoke, and that truth will always eventually surface.

Behavior modification-- The single most commonly used technique in smoking cessation programs. But whereas most programs concentrate on changing behavior (sitting in a different chair, avoiding situations where you normally smoke, etc), Clean Break modifies your behavior by changing the way you think . If you can separate truth from fiction and make clear decisions about smoking, it really doesn't matter where you are sitting, or if you are in the presence of temptation. You know what is more important to you, and can easily choose to not smoke.

Hypnotism--Every hypnotist we have ever encountered will try to hypnotize you into believing you don't want to smoke. The problem is, it isn't true.

Acupuncture--One of the traditional applications of acupuncture is as an anaesthetic. An acupuncturist tries to anaesthetize you against your cravings. When the cravings resurface, you will have no idea how to deal with them.

Drugs--Nicotine Replacement Therapy (the patch, the gum, the inhaler) and Zyban can be useful adjuncts to a smoking cessation program. The danger is that these products are often used with the expectation that they are a magic answer--a way of sidestepping the cravings and conflict involved in stopping smoking. These medications can "take the edge off", but they are no substitution for an understanding of addiction, or for effective tools to deal with cravings, conflict, and emotional dependency.

These historical methods have proven largely ineffective, mainly because their goal--to eliminate cravings--is unrealistic. Clean Break will teach you how to face and handle your cravings. Within a few days, wanting to smoke will be no problem at all.

2. Deprivation

Deprivation means that you experience stopping smoking as punishment, restriction, or loss. Common symptoms of deprivation include anger, depression, self-pity, a sense of loss and sadness, and an inability to enjoy life. (Sound familiar? For many people just the thought of stopping smoking causes deprivation. If you're feeling anxious as you think about taking this program, this is the beginning of deprivation. Don't worry, we'll show you how to start defusing this right away).

Deprivation often becomes so strong that many smokers just can't stand it and go back to smoking as the lesser of two evils. This is a rational decision; if not smoking makes you miserable, why do it?

Clean Break Online will teach you how to defuse this deprivation, and experience not smoking as a gain--something to feel happy about. And that enables you to stay off in the long run.

The third premise of the Clean Break Online Program is that most smokers have lied to themselves for so long about their smoking that they can no longer see their addiction clearly, or think in any kind of honest way about it.

All addicts lie to themselves. They rationalize to justify their addictions. And as time goes on they lose the ability to distinguish between truth and fiction in this area of their lives. They lose sight of what smoking really is and why they do it. This "delusional system" is where much of the loss of control associated with addiction comes from. How can you possibly deal with an issue you can't even see clearly?

A smoker's delusional system usually includes ideas such as:
"Smoking helps me cope with stress"
"Smoking relaxes me"
"I enjoy smoking"
"Smoking is my reward"
"It's easier to continue smoking than to stop"
"Smoking relieves boredom"
"Smoking helps me concentrate."
"It's an escape."

All of this is nonsense! This is the same garbage alcoholics and coke-heads tell themselves as their addictions destroy their lives. None of these delusions have anything to do with why people smoke, or what they get out of it. (You are probably skeptical at this point, because you really believe in the truth of these delusions we've listed. Don't worry--just keep an open mind!)

Clean Break Online will enable you to dismantle this delusional system, and see smoking much more deeply and clearly-- as an empty experience which does absolutely nothing good for you. You may have cravings sometimes, but that's totally different from believing smoking makes your life easier or better.

Once you have discarded these delusions about smoking, and can see your addiction for what it really is, your motivation and ability to stop smoking will grow by leaps and bounds.