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Nicotinic receptor blockade therapy and smoking cessation
Author(s) -
CLARKE PAUL B. S.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
british journal of addiction
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.424
H-Index - 193
eISSN - 1360-0443
pISSN - 0952-0481
DOI - 10.1111/j.1360-0443.1991.tb01797.x
Subject(s) - smoking cessation , blockade , nicotine , nicotinic agonist , medicine , nicotine withdrawal , psychology , psychiatry , receptor , pathology
Smoking is a behaviour with a significant conditioned component. Attempts to quit will likely fail unless the effects of primary and secondary reinforcers are extinguished. Current smoking cessation methods scarcely address this issue, which may explain why they meet with little success in the long term. In contrast, the administration of centrally‐active nicotinic receptor antagonists should provide a means of extinguishing both primary and secondary reinforcers associated with smoking. Thus, nicotine blockade therapy presents a promising new approach to smoking cessation.