The Psychological Effects of Smoking: The True Barrier to Quitting Cigarettes


by Jonty Smith - Date: 2007-02-17 - Word Count: 416 Share This!

I tell you, it never ceases to amaze me how inept the anti-smoking lobby is when it comes to its smoking cessation tactics. There is virtually no emphasis on the psychological effects of smoking, which is actually the main culprit. Instead, these "experts" zero in on emphysema, heart disease, lung cancer, and any other bodily nasty they can think of.

I'm a former smoker, and I can tell you that the scare tactics don't work. Heck, if they did work then wouldn't the entire world be rid of smoking by now? Bizarrely, the failure of these campaigns isn't attributed to their general defectiveness, but rather the "stupidity" of smokers. It is amazing pig-headedness.

The fact is that smoking withdrawal produces very little in the way of real physical symptoms. You'd be hard-pressed to find many ex-smokers who vomited, suffered from severe cramps or had fainting spells after packing in the cigarettes. What does drive people back to smoking is the psychological effects of smoking, and as long as these are ingrained on the psyche, then the battle with smoking will be an unpleasant and lifelong one.

The great news is that all these psychological "reasons" are myths. They can be easily debunked. And like anything in life, once you have no reason to do an act, then you simply won't do it. There are millions of smokers who can testify to stopping smoking easily, and it is almost certain that they did precisely because they conquered the psychological effects of smoking with ease.

What precisely do I mean when I say the "psychological effects" of smoking? Well, any smoker will believe that the cigarette is an all-purpose fix. If they need to concentrate, they light up. If they need to relax, they light up. If they need to relieve boredom, they light up. If they need to talk on the phone, they light up. If they are going to drink, they light up. If they need to cope with stress, they light up.

So the notion of throwing away this miraculous all-purpose fix is simply unbearable. It is no wonder that ex-smokers are most likely to light up again in a classic "cigarette moment", such as a funeral (high stress). Once smokers realise that the psychological effects of smoking are all illusions, then it simply won't be a problem to quit. Do not underestimate or unappreciate the depth of the smoker's brainwashing; the tobacco industry has spent billions for over a century in order to promote its product and its myths.


Related Tags: quitting smoking, stopping smoking, psychological effects smoking

Jonty Smith packed in his 40-a-day smoking habit last year, to the amazement of friends and family. With the increasing global public bans on smoking, Jonty realised that the time was ripe to take his knowledge and methods to the greater web public. He is now sharing his personal advice on quitting the fags on his non-profit webblog, http://www.FinalCigarette.com

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