A Home Study Program by SmokEnders
SmokEnders (AKA Smoke Enders) has been around for 35+ years, and may be one of the most well-known and long-standing quit smoking plans out there. They have gone from quit smoking classes exclusively to recording their classes to make a home-study version of the program, which I'll talk about on this page.
If you're more interested in SmokEnders classes, I'll be writing about those as well, but they are currently only available in New York City and Washington State, so unless you live in one of those areas, you'll probably have to go with the home study version if you want this program.
You've probably heard about SmokEnders - if you've ever heard anyone make a joke about spending a few hundred dollars to go to a program where they told you to snap your wrist with a rubber band when you felt like smoking, that came from this program. Unfortunately, there is good evidence that punishment-oriented psychological techniques are not as effective as other techniques.
To give credit, SmokEnders was one of the first programs to recognize that smoking was more than a 'bad habit' or even just a 'habit' combined with a physical addiction to nicotine. In many ways, it was groundbreaking work to try to integrate psychological techniques into their quit smoking plans.
I'm in the process of updating my assessment of this program - both the classroom version and the home study version, so if you have any recent experience with either and would be willing to provide information about your experience, please contact me.