Tobacco is the most widely used legal drug in the world, and it is probably the biggest public health problem on the planet, claiming the lives of around 8 million people each year.
What's more, many statistics say that around 95% of smokers who try to quit smoking ... fail in their attempts.
The withdrawal anxiety it is the key in many cases. I am Luis Miguel Real, a psychologist specializing in addictions, and in this article I am going to explain what it consists of.
It is important to understand how the body acts when it develops an addiction to some substance (such as nicotine in this case).
The more cigarettes a person takes, the more tolerance their body develops. Tobacco is full of toxic substances (like alcohol or other drugs) so the body tries to "defend itself" from this attack as if it were a poison (it is).
The body gets better and better at protecting itself from the chemical attacks of the tobacco poison. Then the smoker notices less and less effects. And you need to smoke more and more often to feel the same.
There comes a point where the body has become so used to constant doses of nicotine that it seeks it out..
And we call that the abstinence syndrome, the set of physical and psychological symptoms that appear when a person stops their use of the addictive substance.
Nicotine withdrawal syndrome is similar to the feeling of hunger in many ways.
When our body detects low levels of glucose in the blood, it alerts us through the sensations of hunger that we need to go looking for food. The hunger it is unpleasant precisely to motivate us to move and search for food. If hunger were pleasant, we would all have died of malnutrition millions of years ago.
This is exactly how nicotine works: when the body notices that we have low levels of nicotine in the blood, it begins to mobilize a series of unpleasant reactions (withdrawal syndrome) to push us to look for another dose of the addictive substance (in this case, the nicotine from tobacco).
Every person is different, so withdrawal symptoms will affect you differently, too. These are some general or more common symptoms. Some smokers may experience little withdrawal syndrome, and other smokers may experience more bothersome symptoms.
Psychologists have known for years that the way a person manages their thoughts and reactions to the “monkey” of tobacco will be crucial when it comes to overcoming their addiction.
If the person generates strong anxiety reactions to withdrawal symptoms, they are much more likely to quickly return to tobacco use (as this is the fastest way to end the discomfort: another dose of nicotine).
Each person is different, at the genetic level, at the metabolic level, at the level of daily cigarette consumption ... withdrawal syndrome affects many people differently.
But in general we can say that it cannot last more than a couple of weeks, in the worst case. If anxiety continued past that period, it would no longer be the physical nicotine withdrawal syndrome, but rather the psychological dependence on tobacco. Which can be worked very easily in therapy with a professional trained in addictions.
Many people need professional help to overcome their addiction to tobacco, and among other things it is important to help the person understand their addiction and their consumption habits.
What will help most smokers a lot is to become familiar with the withdrawal symptoms, and convince themselves that despite being certainly unpleasant ... luckily they are only temporary.
Many people are afraid that they will last forever, and it is one of the false myths that keep many smokers mistreating their health for years and years, not daring to quit smoking or ask for help to do so..
Familiarize yourself with withdrawal symptomsMost of the things that make us feel anxious are more powerful in our minds than in reality. That is, when a person makes a map of their physical and emotional sensations to a certain stimulus, it will be easier for them to put everything in perspective and modify their reactions.
Understand the anxiety and the thoughts and feelings that are manifested in you before withdrawal: Many people are unaware of the underlying mechanisms of stress and anxiety, and may inadvertently even "intensify" anxiety symptoms. No one is born learned.
Practice relaxation techniques with your psychologist: A professional trained in addictions will be able to suggest techniques and tools adapted to the person. The most common is that they even practice certain techniques in consultation, so that the person knows exactly what to do if they are in a situation with a high risk of relapse.
Work on anxious thoughts: Many smokers generate thoughts such as "I will never be able to quit", "tobacco is stronger than me" or "I don't have enough willpower, if I had it I wouldn't feel cute".
All of these thoughts are irrational and wrong, and only make it difficult for the person to recover. A good psychologist will help the person to identify these types of sabotaging thoughts and to turn them around in a realistic and practical way..
Prepare a good relapse prevention strategy (adapted to the person). Many people make the mistake of thinking about "avoiding" feeling the withdrawal syndrome, which is not up to them. A relapse prevention strategy will consist of assuming that “the dreaded situation” can happen (and will happen at some point), so it will prepare the person to know what to do in each situation.
Quitting smoking is NOT easy, and not everyone can quit overnight. It is important that we are understanding with ourselves and with others, and that we understand that the same solution rarely works for everyone.
You want to quit smoking? Find a professional who specializes in the treatment of addictions right now, and you will get rid of tobacco much sooner than you expect
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