It's Hard to Give up Smoking Because...

It's hard to give up smoking - even with aids like Nicorette - for two reasons.

Firstly, cigarettes contain additives that are themselves addictive.  Those additives are the source of 'brand loyalty' - the reason why a particular person prefers a particular brand of cigarette and will buy that brand rather than any other regardless of price.

Secondly, smoking is a habit that attaches itself readily to other habits or daily rituals - mid-morning coffee, a drink in the evening, the regular Friday telephone call home to parents, the weekly manicure, all become associated with smoking, and seem incomplete or unsatisfactory without a cigarette.

Both of these factors can be made to work in favour of the person who really wants to stop smoking.

• Cigarettes that are not the right' brand are unsatisfactory to a smoker, because whilst all cigarettes have additives, they don't have the same additives in every case.  Changing brands every day - even if means throwing away unsmoked cigarettes - means that smoking itself becomes unsatisfactory, so that the desire to smoke tapers off.
• Changing the habits or weekly rituals that have become 'cigarette vehicles' - or designating various rooms of the house no smoking zones - eventually detaches the habit from the habit, as it were, so that smoking ceases to be part of that particular activity.

It helps, too, to make sure that its impossible to 'light up' unconsciously by keeping cigarettes in less easily accessible places and removing and washing ashtrays immediately ONE cigarette has been smoked so that smoking becomes a conscious decision - and a bit of a chore.

Nicorette works well - but it will work a whole lot better if it gets some help from you!

Emily - http://www.therapypartnership.com/