Are Fear and Guilt Good Motivators?

Like me, I assume many of you have seen this this powerful commercial over the past several weeks. Like me, I assume many of you have had a loved one tragically die due to tobacco related lung cancer. My mother passed away July 10th, 1994 after a horrific 4 year fight with this scourge. I had begged my mom for years to stop smoking- she never did. What would she think of this commercial? My bet is that she would have cried (like me) and would soon smoke her next cigarette.

No longer does "we didn't know..." hold water. Smokers make a choice, initially to "fit in," be "cool," to feel good or they fold under peer pressure. Smokers continue because of physical and emotional addiction. People don't stop smoking because it serves a purpose - it is a crutch helping them get through the varied stresses of the day. If a smoker thought he/she would end up suffering a gruesome ending with their children, spouse, parents, etc. suffering along with them - would they continue? Probably not. On the other hand, I believe that the vast majority of people with destructive habits have built a sturdy wall separating cause and effect. The either choose to "roll the dice," consciously or unconsciously close their brains to reality, or are hubristic enough to believe they are immune from consequences. If this is true, then the commercial should not accomplish it's presumed goal but I am positive it causes kids, relatives, and friends of those at risk significant, and potentially long-lasting, grief and anxiety. To use a simplistic, if not poor, analogy, the force of this add, consisting of fear and punishment, is ineffective, akin to a "boss" rather than a "leader." A "leader" would work with the subject, improving self-esteem, removing barriers. This paradigm does not just apply to tobacco and lung cancer but rather to all morbid conditions related to toxic habits!

I believe that more time, money, and brain power should be spent on prevention and early intervention; This would be far more effective and cost-efficient. The goal: establish multidisciplinary centers (providing western and nontraditional medical expertise along with multi-level support) to find the subjects, identify the common and idiosyncratic forces that led to the habit and devise an intelligent, individual and multi-modality plan to maximize cessation and minimize recidivism.