Quit Smoking by Facing Your Psychological Addiction

The mere thought of attempting to quit smoking can intimidate smokers. Physical withdrawal symptoms, such as being used to have a cigarette between your fingers and puffing on a cigarette can be nerve racking. During withdrawal from smoking you may find yourself holding your pen like a cigarette. Other than the physical part of nicotine addiction, a smoker also has a psychological addiction to the nicotine.

If you are planning to quit smoking, make sure you have planned out how you are going to do it and how you are going to deal with the physical and psychological effects of not smoking. The habit-forming nicotine can wreak havoc on your psyche. Getting counseling and taking prescribed medications from your doctor can help you to cope with the psychological withdrawal from nicotine.

Smoking cigarettes and being addicted to the nicotine in cigarettes can be unhealthy to your body and your mind. Quitting smoking can be hard because of the smoker is so used to lighting up whenever an emotional event occurs, during social gatherings, and just the general habit of bringing a cigarette to their lips. Taking cigarettes out of these times may be hard for the smoker.

The physical aide you get to quit smoking, such as chewing gum or smoking a pseudo cigarette, needs to be in conjunction with psychological aides to be effective. The American Cancer Society Quitline can offer phone counseling to people trying to quit smoking. Calling the hotline will connect you with a real person, a trained counselor who can help you come up with a plan to quit smoking and will be there when you are in need of help. The counselors are trained to help you avoid some of the common traps that usually inhibit a smoker from quitting. You can call at anytime to get assistance.

Some people are fortunate and have family and friends to turn to when they need help holding themselves accountable. However, some smokers do not have family or friends to help them. They may have support from the family and friends in other areas of their life, but they may not want their family and friends involved. This may be because their loved ones have never smoked before and don't know what it feels like, or the family and friends still smoke. Having a smoker who does not intend to quit anytime soon is not going to help the one that is trying to quit smoking.

Group counseling is also available in most areas. If your town does not have one, maybe you could consider starting one. Some people like the idea of being with a group of people who are facing the same problem. The group can help keep each other accountable as well as open the members' eyes to new ideas and help them avoid mistakes others have made.

Still, others would rather have individual counseling. Some groups and individual counseling will be very intense. Your counselor or the group may expect complete commitment to not smoking to be considered a member of the group or to have your individual counselor agree to continue seeing you. Keep this in mind when you are joining. Sometimes the more intense the group or counselor is, the higher your odds of success may be.

If your addiction is strong, you may consider finding a group that meets frequently or a counselor who can see you often. If possible, find a counselor who has experience dealing with nicotine addictions. These counselors will be able to help you more than just a general counselor. However, if one is not available with extensive experience that is ok too. The majority of the help you are going to need is having someone to listen and to help hold you accountable from an unbiased point of view.

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