Helping People to Quit Smoking

Ideally the war on smoking should not be a war on smokers. It's what the habit does to its users that are the problem, not the identity of the users themselves.

It’s certainly true that smokers do place a burden on the health care system and ultimately their families when they get sick. But the reality is that smoking is a choice. If the smoker is willing to face the consequences of the habit then so be it. Smoking is not a moral issue, it's a health issue.

In an attempt to get smokers to quit many different tactics have been used. These include fear and shame. Whilst I'm all for showing smokers the consequences of long term smoking, it's the shaming that I feel is counterproductive.

Cigarettes are addictive. They were designed and manufactured to be this way. Smoking gets its hooks in not just because of the chemicals contained in it. Its frequency of use and positive associations make it psychologically addictive as well. Many smokers who quit for and then relapse tend to do so for psychological reasons.

Shaming users of addictive substances such as cigarettes does nothing to help them quit. The reality is that for a huge chunk of our modern history cigarettes were actually celebrated and promoted. Instead of making smokers feel bad about themselves so that they have to hide away to smoke we should reach out supportive arms. Instead of telling them quitting is hard we should be showing them that in fact it is quite easy to do.

Whilst nicotine has been compared to Class A drugs the reality is that nicotine actually has mild withdrawal. In fact most people find that they either have no withdrawals at all or if they do then it only lasts for a couple of days. It’s important for smokers to realise that the mild discomfort of a few days of withdrawal is nothing compared to the side effects of chemotherapy: • Fatigue • Nausea & Vomiting • Pain • Hair Loss • Anemia

It is my experience that when a person is ready to quit smoking then the best course of action is to get their mind in the right place to quit. Hypnosis has proven to me and my clients to be an incredibly effective way of breaking the habit. Rather than shaming a person my suggesting smoking is somehow dirty and disgusting (which is only one perspective) the smoker is shown how they can free themselves from addiction and feel good about it.

It’s also important to understand that when a smoker quits and then relapses then they have a safe place to go back and quit again. Making them feel bad about themselves stops this from happening.