The Therapist’s Role in Smoking Cessation
We all know that smoking has an
insidious and cumulative effect on our physical health throughout years of smoking. What it doesn’t affect directly, it will most definitely complicate and while smoking may be blamed for causing problems that it may not actually cause, the medical problems it does cause will complicate the other problems we get. When the 1st Surgeon General’s warning was put on all of the cigarette packs (1966) with updated warnings in 1970 & 1984 (the latter being more impressive of a warning that in previous years) and the information about the dangers of smoking (inclusive of multiple additives that we had not been aware of before) were released in 2000, it became “uncool” to smoke. Public places no longer allowed
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smoking indoors and/or had “smoking sections” depending in the State you were in (1973-1980s) and even outdoor places (such as amusement parks) sectioned off smoking sections due to the dangers of smoke being released into the air around us. Children’s candy cigarettes were taken off the market in some States but the word cigarettes was taken off the labels and replaced with the word sticks and smoking commercials were banned in 1970, taking effect in 1971; all in an effort to deter people from smoking. So why do we smoke and why don’t we “just stop”? Most likely because we are addicted. According to the articles reviewed, smoking provides temporary good feelings and those good feelings, over time, train your brain to want it even more. Despite the fact that many articles say that smoking does not make people feel better, some articles finally admit the truth. For a smoker, smoking does improve mood and helps with relaxation. If we are going to explore smoking cessation, let’s begin with the truth. We can’t tell someone who smokes that it doesn’t make them feel the way that they feel. Smoking causes our bodies to release Dopamine. Remember our old friend Chocolate?
October 2021 InSession | FMHCA.org
Chocolate stimulates our neurotransmitters to release dopamine (as does sex). Studies have suggested two interesting things. People who gained benefit from smoking may have had lower dopamine in their systems. However, it is possible that their smoking lowered their dopamine production levels. What came first, the chicken or the egg? But it is an interesting concept. The point is that while we are being told that it doesn’t “really” help with anxiety, depression, stress reduction and so on, it “really” does. The reality is that it doesn’t “fix” those feelings, it replaces them temporarily so that we want to smoke more. Sounds like addiction. It is an addiction. And this is indisputable. No matter how many articles are reviewed, smoking is an addiction. Knowing how addictions work, receiving information about the dangers of smoking can only serve to stop others from starting. People who were and are addicted already don’t just stop. We can explain the changes in the brain, the temporary good feelings, the stress reduction and how the pattern is repetitive. Herein lies the problem. On a Pamphlet from one of those State issued free smoking cessation nicotine patches, it
