College of Charleston
Freedom from Nicotine
A Free Nicotine Dependency Recovery Seminar
Sunday, September 11, 2005, 3-5 pm
In Physician's Auditorium at the College of Charleston
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How has nicotine re-wired your brain? Why is it as permanent as alcoholism? Why does it end up costing half of all South Carolina adult smokers an average of 13 to 14 years of life?
Sadly, the answer is horribly simple. Fear of success is likely motivating you to avoid bringing your most potent weapon to bear upon the problem - your vastly superior intelligence. It's normal to lose sight of the calm and quit mind you once enjoyed. It's normal to not be able to imagine never smoking (or chewing) nicotine again. It's normal for those whose brains become dependent upon nicotine to be willing to trade 1 chemical for 5,000 sunrises, to deeply believe that life without nicotine wouldn't be worth living.
This is your invitation to learn that your fear was shared by every successful quitter, quitters who today would not trade places with you for a lifetime's supply of free nicotine. This is your chance to overcome your fear, to become an educated dreamer, and to discover that although it may feel like it early on, no part of you will be left behind.
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Expect your mind to build a shopping list of excuses as to why you should not attend. It's part of your dependency defenses. You may hear yourself saying "it's just too stressful right now, "the timing is bad," "I attended another program once and it's probably no different," "I'll attend a future program," or "if it's free it can't be worth much." Knowledge is power. We invite you to be brave, to turn on the lights.
Hosted by the College of Charleston's Counseling and Substance Abuse Services and open to the general public, this two-hour free seminar will be presented on Sunday, September 11, 2005, from 3 - 5 p.m. in Physicians Auditorium.
Seminar Content: The onset of true chemical dependency is explored as nicotine imitated acetylcholine in exerting control over the flow of more than 200 neurochemicals, including select dopamine (reward), serotonin (mood) and adrenaline (stimulation) pathways. You'll discover how the brain defended against a flood of nicotine by growing millions of extra receptors and desensitizing critical brain pathways. You'll learn how to cope with and and diminish the anxieties that can occur during the re-sensitization process.
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You'll receive a detailed road map of the timing and sequencing of both chemical withdrawal and psychological recovery, while exploring critical recovery topics such as crave episode frequency and duration, coping techniques, time distortion, blood sugar stabilization, the nicotine-caffeine interaction, nicotine-alcohol interactions, and overcoming the emotional loss. Conscious denial rationalizations, minimizations and blame transference are exposed, and weak quitting motivations are recast into sustainable motives.
Presenter: The seminar is presented by John R. Polito, a former thirty-year three-pack-a-day smoker and founder and editor of WhyQuit, the Internet's oldest abrupt nicotine cessation forum.
Registration: Pre-registration is unnecessary as we do not anticipate filling a 500 seat auditorium. In fact, we encourage you to bring along a supporter -- someone who will stand beside you for roughly ninety days -- so they might learn more about the phases, duration and challenges of the amazing journey you'll soon undertake. But if you'd like the certainty of reserving a seat or additional information please call Laura Lindroth, Health Educator at the College of Charleston at (843) 442-5522 or John R. Polito at (843) 797-3234 .
