Usually, I like to point out all of the positives of the self-help methods available to help an individual with a specific problem in life. Whether it be reading a self-help book about your relationship, or trying out a self-help program online to combat depression, I find such methods a good first step toward seeking help. Or getting better.
But sometimes such methods obscure the truth. For many — but not all — mental health concerns, the truth is that time alone will often heal a person — it just takes longer as you grapple with the concern. This doesn’t work for things like bipolar disorder or schizophrenia, but for an adjustment disorder or even a simple phobia, treatment is often unnecessary (adjustment disorders usually resolve on their own over time and simple phobias can usually be avoided).
So let’s turn our attention to a habit that many people have trouble kicking — smoking. We’ve been told over and over again that it’s difficult to quit because the nicotine in cigarettes is addicting. You know, like cocaine. Or caffeine. But what you’re rarely told is that it is the behaviors associated with smoking that are often the strongest reinforcers of smoking. Taking a smoke after eating? That has nothing to do with your addiction to nicotine, but has everything to do with the association you’ve built up between food and smoking.
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Good points. I’ve discovered, working with many people who want to stop smoking, that it’s not about smoking, it’s about how smoking makes them feel. The nicotine is incidental. Help them change the feeling AND the behavior and they are more likely to let smoking go.
I disagree with the article, it lumps schizophrenia in with a phobia. they are wholly independent mental issues. The article seems to carry an opinion much more than the facts. nicotine is a very complex drug- yes drug it can bring people up or down. It effects receptor sites in the brain. conditioning occurs in an infinite areas of our lives. The conditioning can and does effect the brain chemistry.Couple that with nicotine and it is far away from just a “habit.”
In general I´m agree with the article, except when it says “the difficulty of quitting, is systematically exaggerated by the medical literature…”
I have 18 months since I quit AND STILL IT IS DIFFICULT for me. The cravings has diminished but they still are there. Yes from day to day it is more easy to say no to the craves, so I have o take it like 12 steeps, one day a time.
I suffer from depression too and it is true, nicotine works like an antidepressant. Since I quited, I had a depression relapse, a strong one, so I have to re start antidepressants.
But one thing I can tell, I don’t want to smoke again.
It’s not easy, but you can do it and it worths.
Sorry for my english, I’m a spanish speaker.
and by the way, I haven’t used any kind of specific
smoking cesation drugs.
I agree with the article yet now I am wondering what are the other methods for tackling behavioural/mental issues associated with smoking…. counseling? I have quit smoking about 50-100 times- in fact as soon as I start to smoke I am already thinking about quitting… I feel so guilty about it.. But when I so stressed it seems that really calms it. I have depression/bipolar pretty much and a complicated personality. I want to aim towards a healthy life but sometimes things get so messed up and I just need to smoke or something. (!)
I agree! Especially with this: ” Mental disorders are not purely biological or neurochemical in nature — they have real associated thoughts and behaviors that don’t go away just because you take an antidepressant or other medication.”
I think this point is also an important one for the recent hoopla over anti-depressants being placebos: http://fullobaloney.blogspot.com/2010/03/so-what-if-anti-depressants-are.html
I agree with what you say about nicotine patches not breaking the phsycological habits of smoking. I smoked for 40 years and although patches helped for a while I never managed more than 3 months without a cigarette. It was the hardest without the routine cigs like after a meal and not having one in my hand at work break times.
Last year I found electronic cigarettes and used them to help me to quit and beat those phsycological habits. I’ve been tobacco free for over 10 months and totally nicotine free for 6 months. I feel much healthier and happier now.
May be its easy for someone to quit cigarette smoking and may be its hard for someone to quit cigarette smoking. But we should not get confused with the basic definitions of things, like Habit Building. The basic things that are involved in habit building of anything whatsoever in this entire world is very simple, and its Repitation. By doing the smoking in our early age we trained our body, blood cells and other internal organs the taste, values and reactions of this dangerous chemical called nicotine. Our mind builds a certain patterns as we use to smoke. This is the most important part. The things that our mind learned with the smoking habit. When someone studies these things, he or she will become successful in turning himself/herself an Ex-Smoker. Our trainer in our society should be able to train their patients likewise. We simply learned this bad habit and we need to simply UNLEARN it. And the best way to unlearn this bad habit is to insert tangible informations into you mind.
Quitting smoking I think requires a lot of self will. Attempt to quit smoking is useless, unless the person have the will to go on no matter what. I have known someone who quit smoking by chewing candy whenever he feels the urge to smoke, and he succeeded. I also have known someone who did the same but did not succeed. He also tried to lessen his consumption from 1 box to 5 sticks a day. To no avail, eventually he returned from his normal consumption of 1 box a day. Quitting smoking is a self started task. No amount of professional help and advice would be enough if the person struggling to quit smoking is not serious to do it and willing to help himself.
A study presented at a 2007 international assembly of the American College of Chest Physicians showed hypnosis to be a useful addition to smoking cessation programs such Nicotine Replacement Therapy.(http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071022124741.htm)
Hypnosis for smoking proved to be effective helping people overcome the psychological attachment they have to cigarettes while NRT helps with the physical addiction.
According to Alvin V. Thomas, MD, FCCP, President of the American College of Chest Physicians,”The results of this study and many others confirm that using a multimodality approach to smoking cessation is optimal for success.”
Self-awareness is very helpful in the process. A person who wants to successfully quit smoking has to has to observe the habit in action. When do you smoke? Where do you smoke? With whom do you smoke? Having this awareness helps in designing a well conceived plan to quit smoking.
“Taking a smoke after eating? That has nothing to do with your addiction to nicotine, but has everything to do with the association you’ve built up between food and smoking.”
I had the same association with eating and driving when I used to smoke. Not smoking while driving was particularly difficult for me to overcome.