Applying Psychology to Giving up Smoking - Essay Example

?Psychology and Smoking Smoking is one of those habits, which have different meanings for different people. Some people consider it a bad habit whereas some people do not take much notice if someone smokes in front of them. Smoking is a type of addiction, which affects the health of a person. Some of main effects which can occur on the health of a person due to smoking including heart diseases, mental stroke, altered brain chemistry, graves disease, gum disease, wrinkles, and cancer of the esophagus. “Non-smoking spouses and children are exposed to second-hand smoke, may adopt the same negative behaviors, and often have poor nutrition and diets” (Stritof, n.d.). Researchers believe that smoking is a psychological addiction, which needs to be dealt using psychological means. The percentage of people who are physical addicted to smoking is very less as compared to the percentage of people who are psychologically addicted to it. The habit of smoking is not good for the emotional and physical health of a person. There are many conflicting and adverse situations, which a person can create for himself/herself due to the habit of smoking. One of those situations can be increased conflicts between a husband and a wife. Smoking causes adverse impact on the husband wife relationship. Non-smoking partners usually do not like their partners to smoke because they are worried about the psychological and physical health of their partners, which can be affected badly due to smoking. Stritof (n.d.) states, “Many non-smoking spouses have very strong feelings about their partner's smoking habit”. Getting rid of the habit of smoking is very important for the people whose relationships are at risk due to this habit. Most of the people are psychologically addicted to smoking and need a psychological treatment to get rid of this dangerous habit. Applying Psychological Theory to Give Up Smoking Psychological therapies can provide psychologists with a great help in making smokers give up the habit of smoking and live a peaceful life. As stated earlier, psychology is more of a psychological problem than physical addiction, so it needs to be dealt using appropriate psychological techniques. A psychological problem is more difficult to give up as compared to physical addiction. The reason is that when a smoker makes his/her mind to give up smoking, the emotional feeling of giving up something desired stops that person more than physical addiction to nicotine. Most of the smokers want to give up the habit of smoking but they cannot do so because they start feeling uncomfortable within a very short span of time. Psychologists use different methods to make smokers give up smoking. “Health psychology looks at the complex array of biological, social and psychological factors that influence our health and illness-related behaviour” (Bonas, n.d.). A conflict in husband-wife relationship due to smoking is one of main issues, which psychologists can use for this cause. Some studies show that the number of habitual smokers who have quit smoking after marriage is quite large as compared to the number of unmarried smokers. Psychologists can use social learning theory to make smokers give up their habit. Using social learning theory, psychologists give examples of parents and such people who dislike smoking and try to inspire smokers from the personalities and achievements of such people who do not smoke. Psychologists examine different mental aspects of the smokers’ behaviors in order to provide an effective treatment to them. The analysis of smoking based conflicts in marriages play a considerable role in this regard. Psychological theories deal with the mental and behavioral aspects of a person. In case of smokers, such theories help psychologists know the causes of developing the habit of smoking. They not only examine the factors that inspire smokers to develop the habit of smoking but also examine the effects of this habit on the social and marital life of a person. Based on these analyses, psychologists provide the most suitable psychological treatment to the habitual smokers. “People who are trying to quit have to put up with cravings, change their habits, and resist the temptation to have or buy cigarettes” (Bonas, n.d.). All of these actions need proper commitment of smokers to get rid of smoking forever. Psychologists need to make smokers aware of the negative effects of smoking on their health in order to prepare them mentally for the psychological treatment. Psychologists make use of cognitive counter conditioning along with psychological therapies to achieve a higher smoking quit rate. Nicotine replacement therapy is one of such therapies, which are being widely used by the psychologists to help people quit smoking. Although this therapy has been successful in dealing with the habit of smoking but the inconsistency factor associated with this therapy is one of its major disadvantages. The fact is that people again start smoking after a period of 10 to 12 months. “Typically three quarters of smokers given nicotine replacement are smoking again one year later” (Ward, 2001). A better way to use this therapy is to use it with a set of effective psychological techniques in order to change the smoking behavior of smokers permanently. Nicotine is one of such ingredients of a cigarette, which makes a person addicted to smoking. The role of psychologists is not just to stop smokers from taking nicotine but also to use psychological techniques to make smokers stand on their decision of giving up smoking. Cognitive counter conditioning, if used with nicotine replacement therapy, is one of such psychological techniques, which can be very effective for the cause of making smokers give up smoking. “Nicotine replacement therapy can be enhanced by the inclusion of psychological techniques in group work” (Ward, 2001). Some of the psychological techniques, which psychologists can use along with nicotine replacement therapy, include suggestion, hypnosis, and behavior therapies. Behavior modification interventions are being widely used by the psychologists to make smokers give up smoking by bringing changes in their behavior towards smoking. Covino and Bottari (2001) state, “Behavior modification interventions, in contrast to hypnosis, have become standard elements of smoking cessation programs”. Psychologists need to alter behaviors of smokers using detestation aspect of their psychology. The element of detestation is one of the integral parts of human psychology. People like and dislike different objects and behaviors based on their perceptions. Psychologists can use this aspect to make smokers give up smoking by making them aware of the harms and damages which smoking can bring to their social and private life. Psychologists can also make use of protection motivation theory to deal with the cases of habitual smokers. In protection motivation theory, the theorist explained that health related behaviors of a person are products of five key components, which include severity, susceptibility, response effectiveness, self-efficacy, and fear. Applying this model, psychologists use a step-based approach to bring changes in the behaviors of smokers. Psychologists increase self-motivation of smokers to give up their habit of smoking. Motivation and awareness are two such factors, which hold great importance in the psychological treatment of smokers. Awareness is the stage of consciousness or alertness in which a smoker makes up his/her mind to quit smoking. Once a smoker becomes aware of negative aspects of smoking, the psychologist motivates him/her to stand firmly on the decision of giving up smoking instead of starting smoking again after some time. Summing it up, smoking is a type of addiction, which affects the health of a person. Psychology is more of a psychological problem than physical addiction, so it needs to be dealt using appropriate psychological techniques. Psychological theories provide psychologist with great help in making smokers give up the habit of smoking and live a peaceful life. References Bonas, S. (n.d.). Smoking: psychological and social influences. Retrieved from http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/smoking/psychologicalinfluences_000509.htm Covino, N., & Bottari, M. (2001). Hypnosis, Behavioral Theory, and Smoking Cessation. Journal of Dental Education, 65(4), 340-347. Stritof, B. (n.d.). Smoking tied to Divorce and Marital Health Issues. Retrieved from http://marriage.about.com/od/healthyliving/a/smokingdivorce.htm Ward, T. (2001). Using psychological insights to help people quit smoking. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 34(6), 754-759. Read More