Most young people smoke regularly, without ever considering the consequences. Lately, smoking has also become more socially unacceptable. In large parts of the western world, smoking in public places is prohibited. You also cannot just light a cigarette in somebody's house anymore. Governments and health organizations are working hard to make especially young people aware of the dangers of smoking.

In principle, every smoker should be made fully aware of the dangers of smoking and also should be given help, information and support on how to stop smoking.

Among smokers there is always the great conundrum: ?I don't like smoking, but I don't know how to give up? Every year hundreds of thousands of smokers make a New Year's resolution, unfortunately only a small percentage manages to get through the first 2 days. Very few actually end up being non-smokers as a result of their new year's quest to become a non-smoker.

There are a number of ways to stop smoking. At the end of the last millennium, the Pharmaceutical Industry became aware of a market for medication to assist people in giving up smoking. There are various choices and options for nicotine replacement products, all under the banner of ?Nicotine Replacement Therapy?. The most common ones are: nicotine patches and nicotine chewing gum. Statistically, those remedies are unfortunately not as effective as most people hope. Critics of nicotine patches and gums claim that it is a folly to continue to feed the body nicotine when the smoker has already given up smoking. Other options are anti-depressants. The problem with prescribing anti-depressants is that giving up smoking is not a mental disorder. It is the absence of and subsequent craving for nicotine that causes mood swings and mild depression. Some scientist believe that giving up smoking is more difficult than giving up heroine and there have been severe cases of depression and mood swings leading to violence and even murder.

If people suffer severe depressive turns as a result of giving up smoking, it may be advisable to see a psychologist. Other options for people trying to become non-smokers include: homeopathic medication, acupuncture, so called ?stop-smoking cigarettes? and ?quit meters? (specialized software applications).

One of the more promising and essentially more effective methods of giving up smoking is: Clinical Hypnotherapy which includes using hypnosis to plant suggestions in the smokers mind that help him or her to give up, without cravings, withdrawal symptoms or mood swings. ?Quit Smoking Hypnosis? is rapidly becoming the preferred method of giving up when all other methods have failed.