Smoking is one of the most difficult habits to kick, and millions of Americans struggle with doing so each and every day. Without effective methods to manage and reduce the urge to smoke, quitting smoking is extremely challenging. The effects of smoking are far-ranging, and can include increased anxiety levels, fatigue, and weight gain, and can significantly reduce the amount of time that a person can remain smoke-free.
At the CBT Center of Los Angeles, we offer a customized treatment program to help smokers overcome their addiction and quit smoking forever. Whether you smoke few cigarettes during the day or several packs per day, our team will create a treatment plan that is designed for your specific needs. We have helped hundreds of people from Santa Monica and throughout southern California stop smoking successfully.
Cigarette smoking: Facts and figures
Smoking is a practice that delivers positive short-term benefits both in terms of mental and biochemical. It’s the main prevention cause of chronic infections. Each year approximately 420,000 people are killed from cancer and heart and lung conditions and smoking may contribute too.
Smoking triggers the body to release endorphins. These are natural pain relievers that will temporarily relieve feelings of anxiety and depression. Nicotine interacts with the reward center in your brain and causes a chemical reaction, making you feel good. The nicobrain makes you crave another cigarette within the next few hours.
Smoking urges last for a fair while after you’ve smoked your last cigarette. You will find that the craving to light up will be present for hours and days after your last cigarette. It’s not easy to beat these urges, even if you know that smoking isn’t good for you.
Smoking affects may of your physical activity and success in your work. It can also cause less confidence and self-esteem, which could lead to further problems such as depression.
Youth and Tobacco Use
Analysis of the National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS) states that there is an increase in the use of tobacco products like cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, and cigars among youth. According to survey results, 9.2% of high school students are using smokeless tobacco; 8.1% smoke cigarettes; 15.8% use cigars; 2% uses e-cigarettes; 1.5 % uses hookah (a water pipe used to smoke tobacco with flavorings or other additives); and 1.3% uses pipes .
These results are alarming because the kids who use these products tend to start at a young age (around 12-13 years old). The alarming increase in smoking among youth has prompted several cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, New York to implement anti-smoking laws in public places like bars and restaurants.
The stages of a smoker’s life
Young smoker take no serious warnings on future health problems with smoking;. they tend to engage in this practice because of the effects it gives. It was found that most teens pick up this habit to look older or cool and that’s why most begin smoking below age 18. The earlier a person starts, the more likely he is to develop a lifelong addiction to nicotine.
Nicotine and Tobacco addiction
Cigarette smoking is the most popular form of tobacco use; it is an addiction. There are more than 4,000 chemicals inside cigarettes that cause cancer and heart disease. According to the University of Michigan’s health services, if one cigarette contains 50 carcinogens, then imagine how a pack a day will affect your body!
The risk for developing cancer because of smoking is known, but the speed at which it happens depends on your choice to quit.
Nicotine Withdrawal Symptoms:
Nicotine dependence or withdrawal causes a person to experience unpleasant feelings when the supply of cigarettes is reduced. This might be a sign that you are addicted to smoking. Some common symptoms include:
- Feeling agitated when not smoking
- Increased difficulty in concentrating on tasks
- Inability to feel pleasure from activities previously enjoyed
Smoking Cessation: Brief Facts
More than half of the adults use cessation counseling to beat their addiction. This rate is growing because of the realization that it takes more than self-will to quit smoking. A person’s body gets used to regular doses of nicotine, thus requiring more to feel better.
Smoking Cessation reduces the risk of getting cancer, heart disease, lung problems and other smoking-related diseases.
Smoking cessation treatment works best if it is done before you are too old to quit. The older you are when starting the treatment for quitting smoking, the harder it will be. If you do not treat your dependence on nicotine at a young age, chances are that your condition will get worse.
Effective Treatments:
Cognitive Behavior Therapy for smoking cessation
CBT therapy in Los Angeles utilizes an evidence-based treatment protocol that is backed by a wealth of scientific evidence and is significantly more successful than alternative methods. Traditional addiction treatment programs are based on the idea that addiction is a lifelong disease, but CBD for smoking cessation regards addiction as a collection of over-learned behaviors that serve the patient in some way. CBT techniques for quitting smoking in Los Angeles, therefore, aim to allow the patient to learn more effective behaviors that can be used instead of those that are addictive.
CBT for smoking cessation in Los Angeles enables the learning of new skills to change the way a patient reacts to the urge to smoke by changing behaviors and thought patterns related to the habit. By examining thought patterns that are unhelpful and cause smoking, new and more effective patterns can then be learned.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to quit smoking
Smoking may sound like a habit, frequently occurring subconsciously. It is important to establish a solid time to quit before the treatment is complete. CBT for quitting smoking in Los Angeles is based on the principle of identifying the function served by smoking and then replacing the behaviors with new ones that serve the identical function. Cognitive-behavioral therapy for smoking cessation also incorporates emotion regulation and mindfulness techniques that assist in controlling the urges.
Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT)
Nicotine replacement therapy or NRT may be useful to help people stop smoking. This is because it reduces the urge to smoke while delivering nicotine into the body through different ways, including gums, inhalers, nasal sprays and patches.
Nicotine gum
Nicotine gum has been found to be more effective than a placebo in studies. A patient should chew one piece of nicotine gum for thirty minutes, every 1-2 hours as necessary, with no more than twenty pieces daily.
Nicotine patch
Nicotine patch therapy is a twenty-four-hour transdermal form of nicotine replacement therapy that may be more effective than gums and lozenges. It works by slowly administering nicotine into the body, but relieves cravings faster than ordinary gum or lozenges do. The user must apply the patch to an area of skin and allow it to remain there for 24 hours. It is effective at relieving cravings and withdrawal symptoms, but it does not allow the user to inhale or smoke cigarettes on a regular basis. This means that the side effects of smoking such as coughing and shortness of breath are still present.
Cigarette smoking can help you work through unpleasant emotions such as depression and anxiety or help you feel comfortable in social situations like when you are partying. Everyone has their own set of reasons for smoking. You may quit smoking at this time, but you will not change your behavior.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Quitting Smoking in Los Angeles
Traditional research and treatments for smoking addiction are not very effective, with success rates hovering around five to seven percent. For a person to successfully quit smoking, they must first commit themselves to changing their behavior and understand what is causing them to smoke. A therapist can help you with behavioral treatment by:
Clinical Hypnosis for Quitting Smoking
A cbt therapist skilled in using clinical hypnosis will guide you through a hypnotic induction process during which deep relaxation methods are used. Once you have reached the level of deep relaxation, your therapist will guide you to relive the original reasons for your desire to smoke. This way, you can understand why smoking was helping you cope with particular emotions at one time.
The therapist will help you change the way that you see things and come up with new ways of coping with difficult situations instead of smoking. Also, tobacco related illness is now well-known for being a huge source of stress.
The cbt therapist will encourage you to handle stress caused by this illness head on, and learn how to cope with them effectively so as not to relapse. Also, if the patient is under the care of a doctor or psychiatrist getting medication, CBT can be used in conjunction with it.
Behavioral and cognitive therapies for smoking cessation in Los Angeles eliminate the drug component of quitting and help you quit smoking because it is the correct thing to do.
This helps you to maintain your new behavior and develops a habit to not going back to your old ways and helps develop a whole new lifestyle without cigarettes. This, along with nicotine replacement therapy and medication, can help you quit smoking efficiently.
Quitting smoking is not easy, and may involve several attempts before you finally quit for good. It takes time and perseverance to turn your habits around and change the way that you think. However, with the right support and some hard work on your part, it is possible to become a non smoker.
Ways to cope with Smoking Relapse
Quitting smoking attempts can be very difficult. It takes a considerable amount of willpower and motivation to not smoke again after you have tried so hard to quit. Cigarette cravings can be quite intense, but there are methods that you can use to help you cope with such cravings.
There are several things that you can do to cope with a smoking relapse and get back on track to quitting:
Talk about your feelings – One of the most important things that you can do after a smoking relapse is talk to someone and express what you are feeling and thinking about this relapse.
Find someone who will be understanding and patient- Once you have the right attitude, the relapse won’t feel so bad.
Accept that it was a mistake – You are not a failure for smoking again because it is common to relapse when quitting smoking.
Reference
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, over nine million Americans are struggling with smoking addiction. This number is far too large for any one clinic or treatment center to handle. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy in LA offers individualized treatment in a private setting where individuals can focus on themselves without disruption.
Many smokers reported about their thinking patterns, i.e thinking negatively about themselves and their lives, resulted in negative emotions about the future. These thoughts create a vicious cycle which smokers need to break out of. Meta Analysis has shown that CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) can be used to treat addictions like smoking. People who quit using CBT are much more likely to relapse than those who quit without support. Drug abuse often causes depression, anxiety, low self-esteem and other mental health issues. When combined with CBT, these problems are given special attention to ensure that the person’s overall state of mind is not affected by cravings for drugs or alcohol. Thus Cognitive Behavioural Therapy in LA is quite effective at treating addictions and mental health issues that often go hand in hand.
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Does CBT work for quitting smoking?
According to researchers, CBT can increase the odds of quitting smoking by 50 percent. It is an evidence-based treatment that has been clinically tested and found to be effective.
What is CBT for smoking cessation?
CBT for smoking cessation is a goal-oriented, time-limited therapy that helps people quit or cut down on their smoking. CBT treatment focuses on changing the person’s behavior and thinking patterns. The cognitive part of CBT teaches smokers to identify urges, thoughts, and behaviors that lead to them keeping their addiction.
What is the most successful method to quit smoking?
A study has found that smokers who used medications and quit therapy like CBT were twice as successful at quitting smoking as those who did not use medication. The CDC recommends combining nicotine replacement therapies with counseling methods like CBT.
What are the 5 R’s of smoking cessation?
The 5 R’s of smoking cessation is a method used by therapists to help their patients quit smoking. The 5 ‘R’s stand for:
- Remove all cigarettes, ashtrays, and lighters from your home or workplace.
- Replace the urge to smoke with another activity like chewing gum or sucking on hard candies.
- Relieve yourself from stress by practicing breathing exercises, yoga or meditation.
- Replace smoking conversations with phone calls to your loved ones.
- Reward yourself for not smoking like watching a movie or buying that designer handbag you’ve always wanted.
