There’s a lot of work going on behind the scenes at the moment, and, over the next few months, we hope to bring you some very exciting developments that should prove to be immensely beneficial for all therapists that are members of the National Board for Modern Psychotherapy.
Following the last post which highlighted the latest research into the benefits of stopping smoking. We explained how a team at UCL has found that quitting can see some extremely fast positive health benefits.
In short, they found that a number of the body’s cells effectively ‘bunkered’ down and hid away from the dangers of the genetic mutations caused by cigarettes.
The BBC reported that when someone stopped the habit then these cells quickly came out of their ‘bunkers’ and started to grow to replace the damaged ones.
Nature explained how the current research was more focused on the airways than the actual alveoli itself, which is the part of the lung which allows for oxygen to be absorbed into the system.
It’s hoped that further study will be carried out to see if this part of the lung also sees such rapid benefits when someone stops. All this type of knowledge can provide a colossal (and, sometimes, crucial) boost for someone who’s looking to quit.
So, to further enhance an individual’s chances, we’ve been delving into our archives to find more articles which might help. And, we were pleased to find that the outstanding publication, Psychology Today, in its December 2019 issue, discussed how cash incentives had increased the chances of helping someone to stop.
It had pointed to research published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews which had looked at how simple monetary rewards had seen a significant percentage success rate (regardless of the size of cash on offer).
In short, they found more than 10 per cent of people stopped when they were given a reward (a three per cent increase on those who had not been offered any incentives). The results weren’t affected by the size of the prize. Small amounts were just as effective as larger ones.
The key benefit for Practitioners is that we can offer huge incentives to quit. Not only can we present the Solution Focused health benefits but we can also chat through the financial gains which the person can make from Day One.
We know that a packet of cigarettes currently costs around £10 and we also know that the price can only ever go up! So, if a client starts to put the cash into a deposit account then they’ll see how quickly their savings grow.
And that’s a huge incentive for anyone to quit. It means someone with a £10 a day habit could be £500 better off after just a few months! That’s surely incentive enough to stop!