The Psychology of Smoking

According to TheTruth.com, the following startling statistics explain the prevalence of smoking in the United States:

• Biochemical addiction begins in as little as two weeks (for more information on nicotine’s effect on the brain, go HERE.
• 80% of smokers started before age 18
• Tobacco products kill 1,200 people a day
• 2000 teenagers start smoking each day
• 70% of smokers want to quit; only about 5% succeed in a year
• Smoking is connected to 445 new cases of lung cancer being diagnosed each day

Psychological Factors

Why do people continue to smoke when they know the potential health risks? Why do so many people try quitting and fail? For the answers to these types of questions we must look at the psychological aspects of smoking. In his book Drugs in Modern Society, Charles Carroll explains some of the psychological reasons behind the smoking phenomenon:

Smoking may be the passport to acceptance among one’s peers . . . it may be the result of an unconscious desire to imitate esteemed smokers; it may be nothing more than a soothing and pleasurable way to counteract boredom. . . In essence, the cigarette provides a smoker with a readily available way to deal with a host of personal problems and needs. (Carroll 1985).

The reasons for starting people smoking and those that keep people smoking are often different. Powerful biological and psychological factors involved in the use of cigarettes keep many hooked on a habit they know may one day kill them. Carroll mentions several factors involved in the smoking behavior (205-206):

• Stimulation- many people feel smoking keeps them going energetically. Nicotine is a mild stimulant, so it often does temporarily relieve fatigue.
• Handling/Oral Gratification- often smoking is related to the desire to handle something, or have something in your mouth. Freud would explain such a phenomenon from the infantile need to suck or chew.
• Pleasurable Relaxation- Feelings of contentment and satisfaction are the reasons nearly two-thirds of smokers claim to smoke.
• Crutch-tension reduction- Some people smoke to manage negative emotions such as anger, fear, and anxiety. The cigarette is used by smokers as a tool of comfort.
• Craving (psychological and physical addiction) - Such a person generally has the hardest time quitting. They smoke first the increase positive feelings, and then to reduce negative feelings of withdrawal.
• Habit- a behavior pattern has been established by this type of smoker and they usually feel the need to smoke in certain situations where the habit has developed. Such a smoker generally no longer receives the satisfaction from smoking they once did, but has now entered a pattern of habit that they find hard to break.

Quitting

Carroll explains the difficulty of smoking, even in the presence of its obvious health risks:

Persistence in smoking may seem contradictory in this enlightened, scientific era, but it is due in part to the effectiveness of early learning reinforced thousands of times, puff after puff. As a result of so many rewarding interactions with cigarettes, smoke, and other smokers, the individual’s personal values and basic attitudes about life become so ingrained and inflexible that they cannot be cast aside, even when the person recognized and openly admits the errors of prior learning.

Carroll suggests that in order to quit smoking, one successful method is to tailor your plan around the psychological reasons you smoke. For instance, a “stimulation” smoker would substitute cigarettes with a safer stimulant, such as taking a brisk walk whenever they felt the urge to smoke. A “handling” smoker may try doodling, playing with a small item such as a coin or jewelry, or even chewing on a candy cigarette. Carroll also suggests establishing a system of personal rewards to offset the psychological rewards that often occur in smoking such as the feelings of relaxation, well-being, and stimulation. Such suggestions would be to reward a smoke-free day with a special food, a new article of clothing, talking with a friend, etc.