The Art of Quitting for Good

The Integrated Placebo-Substitute Method (IPSUM)

an innovative approach to healing addiction

without suffering through withdrawal

Call to Action: Institutional Partnerships

Call To Action: Pilot Study Research

The Integrated Placebo- Substitute Method (IPSUM)

I developed an integrated model to treat addiction without withdrawal and that intentionally changes the neurobiological relationship to the substance, which heals the addiction, rather than facing perpetual states of abstaining.

I developed this method on myself after a long battle of quitting nicotine and relapsing, even years later. I have published the method for smoking and vaping in my book, The Art of Quitting for Good, but I am interested in bringing the model itself, called The Integrated Placebo-Substitute Method, to the right audience for clinical trials in nicotine and other addictive substances. Withdrawal is a process that damages the mind-body connection, creates cognitive splitting, is largely inhumane, creates conditions that provoke relapse, and does nothing to heal the addiction (re: change the neurobiological relationship to the substance). Popular thought has taken for granted the notion that withdrawal is a necessary part of quitting, but I challenge that belief.

I am interested in connecting to institutions and independent researchers to discuss the model and its applications in more depth. It is an integrated model with precise skillset building and process flow that achieves the three radical goals of: 1. Quitting without withdrawal, 2. Changing the neurobiological relationship to the substance, and 3.) Strengthening the relationship between the mind and body. This method has the potential to significantly reduce suffering, support what many clinicians and therapists are already doing by integrating treatment models in a coherent, structured way. From disease/medical models to the harm reduction model to the mindfulness and neuroplasticity models---these models and the historical body of addictions research are integrated in this supportive, human-centered method designed to heal.

Please reach out if you are interested to schedule a call, evaluate the method, and see what we can do for each other.

C.C. Alexander, M.A.

CC Alexander received her Master's in Social Research in 2018 from Roosevelt University, Chicago. She began her story as a teen mother in the heart of the Midwest who read a book on birthing naturally that changed her perspective forever, by initiating her to critically think about health, systems of care, and what caring for the body and mind really means.

Her own tumultuous story in combination with her academic schooling revealed a secret to her, after she struggled with mental health and various addictions for over a decade, relapsing repeatedly--even after years of being in recovery--so even as her body was free from addictive chemicals, her mind still pulled her back to addiction.

She believes that addiction research may be missing key insights from anthropology, mindfulness, and a perspective shift--that suffering and withdrawal isn't actually a necessary part of the process.

While her family was made up of wonderful people, many of them struggled at some point in their life with poor relationships as well as addiction or alcoholism, and ultimately turned to the popular AA bandwagon to address their afflictions. And so, she heard from a young age phrases like, 'Once an addict, always an addict.' That never sat well with her, as structurally, that argument could blame the user for the failure of the program, and presents a circular-logical fallacy. One day in particular, her uncle once said to her,

"I stopped 30 years ago and I could pick up the habit now and keep going like I never quit"

and it occurred to her that he was the equivalent of a dry drunk, and there was a significant puzzle to solve. He had never truly healed his addiction. As she continued to absorb psychology, anthropology, and significant life lessons of her own, the idea dawned on her in the height of the chaos of 2020 when she was fighting her own relapse after being in recovery for years.

She developed IPSUM: The Integrated Placebo-Substitute Method, and tested it on herself.

It wasn't just a gentle, empowering way to quit--it was easy, and she didn't need to continuously avoid temptation after kicking her habit.

In 2023 she finally published the method as applied to Smoking and Vaping, in her two books titled, The Art of Quitting for Good, because smoking and vaping are both applications of IPSUM on addictions which are not life-threatening, and which have products available on the market that fit into her model: ample options for both subsitutes and placebos.

The Problem with the Cold Turkey Method

It shocks your psychology while putting you in a state of distress: Quitting cold turkey creates two types of withdrawal. Physically it places you in a state of physiological withdrawal as your body reacts to the sudden drop of the chemical substance. While this is occurring, you're also placed in a state of psychological withdrawal because you're stripped from your habits, rituals, and coping mechanisms and thus, while you're in a state of physical distress, you have none of your regular ways to cope, as the substance and it's use was an integral part of your lifestyle.
- IPSUM does not place the individual in a state of physical or psychological withdrawal. Substitutes and Placebos are used to create a careful response protocol in a way that eases people off the physical addiction and the psychological dependency.
It creates a void to fill: Withdrawal initiates a grief response, wherein you begin to miss the addiction on some level. By doing this, you're experiencing physiological and psychological separation and even longing for, what you're grieving, craving, and devoid of. This gap is often filled by other addictions, such as food, sugar, or process addictions.
- IPSUM creates a gradual shift where you give your body and mind what they need, so as to never experience withdrawal or create voids to fill.
It creates a psychological split: Your mind and body are inherently at odds with each other because your mind/willpower is tasked with depraving your body/physiological needs. When and if you fail, you blame yourself instead of the method you're using to quit. This also adds a component of guilt, frustration, and sense of failure directed inward.
- Instead of placing you in a situation where your body and mind are at odds with each other, you are instead tasked with actively creating congruence between the body and the mind, using IPSUM. The mind must read the body's signals and respond responsibly, and caringly so as to parent the body out of addiction and dependency. IPSUM teaches healing through strengthening the mind-body connection.
Even if you're one of the few who can powerhouse through the withdrawal process, you may inadvertently negatively impact your psychology by creating a void to fill, and by harming your mind-body connection. If you feel you could still relapse even after significant time in remission, IPSUM may be able to help you.

Quitting Cold Turkey shocks you Physically and Psychologically,

creates a Void to fill, and never Heals the actual Addiction

The realization that addiction is made up of two basic pieces, 1. the physical addiction and, 2. the psychological dependency where a person's habits, rituals, and coping mechanisms are contained, meant that she had to figure out a way to treat each half of the addiction in different ways, and that any method that only addresses one, will set up it's subscribers to walk a more difficult path on the road to recovery than what is actually necessary. In her book, The Art of Quitting For Good: A Program to Quit Smoking Without Suffering, and Never Want to Smoke Again (2023) she provides a step by step guide as to exactly how to identify your habits, rituals, and coping mechanisms, and how your addiction is embedded in them, and then how to separate the psychological from the physical, and treat them differently. Her method is designed so that there is no suffering, no motivation by guilt, no withdrawals, no medication, and no stress throughout the process. It is a method that is designed to be easy and gentle on the body, the mind, and the emotional body.

She hopes that her method to healing addiction may gain traction and audience sufficient enough to make an impact on how we view and treat addiction, so that people around the world can heal themselves without the need for the physical suffering, the psychological torment of having your body's needs betray your mind's desires, and the process of quitting as one motivated by guilt and distress. By understanding addiction in a deeper, yet incredibly simple way, she has been able to offer an alternative to this suffering, which has been effectively accepted as a necessary part of recovery for centuries.