Reasons Why People Smoke

(This blog was originally posted on January 12, 2015)

Image courtesy of Microsoft/Bing

People smoke cigarettes for various reasons, but the addiction to nicotine is very real and extremely powerful. Depending on your “trigger” to smoke, techniques to help you quit may vary. Following is a list of the different reasons (motivations) why people smoke and strategies to help you quit.

• Pleasure Seeker. You enjoy smoking cigarettes, particularly after finishing a meal or while drinking liquor. Therapeutic strategy: Find a pleasurable activity or substitute to replace cigarettes.

• “I Need a Cigarette to Cope.” You smoke when you feel tense, nervous or stressed out. Therapeutic strategy: Learn new coping strategies to reduce stress and manage your life more effectively.

• Habitual Smoker. You smoke in specific situations because this behavior has become a habit at those times (e.g., while talking on the phone, after a meal, while drinking alcohol). Therapeutic strategy: Desensitization to the “triggers” for your smoking habit and creating physical obstacles to limit access to cigarettes (e.g., limiting access to the cigarettes or only being allowed to smoke only in one specific location).

• Stimulation Smoker. You need a cigarette first thing in the morning to wake up and you smoke throughout the day to remain alert/keep going. You enjoy the physiological stimulation that nicotine provides. Therapeutic strategy: Relaxation techniques, reduction of cigarettes in conjunction with replacement strategies that substitute smoking with activities that create a similar physical sensation. It may also be advised to wear a nicotine patch at the beginning of the therapy.

Hypnotherapy is an effective tool to help you achieve your goal of becoming a permanent non-smoker. This is because hypnosis enables you to communicate with your subconscious mind to reprogram your previous mental scripts about wanting and needing to smoke, with ones that reinforce your decision, motivations and ability to stop smoking. I offer a 6-week, smoking-cessation hypnotherapy program that is good for people who smoke one or more pack of cigarettes a day. During this time, you will learn how to resist the triggers of your psychological and physiological addiction to nicotine while you gradually stop smoking altogether. I also record and provide a customized stop-smoking track for you to listen to in order to reinforce this new behavior (lifestyle of a permanent non-smoker).

You can read about the benefits of becoming a permanent non-smoker in my blog titled Physiological benefits to quit smoking. When you are ready to quit smoking, I am here and ready to help you!

         

Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up an appointment, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.

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