Psychological Recovery Stages to Stop Smoking
Smokers, while quitting smoking experience both physical symptoms of nicotine withdrawal and psychological nicotine withdrawal symptoms. Getting over the psychological loss can be very complex. It may even take several months for a person to restructure a lifestyle without smoking.
Generally people’s reaction to quit smoking could be related to a sense of loss like something dear has gone forever. This feeling can be counter reacted by thinking of smoking like the death of a close friend. Almost anytime there is an experience of a major change in a person’s life, he or she grieves for the old order before there is room for the new. Basically, quitting smoking boils down to five emotional levels that most everyone who is a long-time smoker faces. And they are:
•Denial
•Anger
•Depression
•Bargaining
•Acceptance
Denial is the first way a person’s mind protects itself from a sudden change or loss .This is what we call a psychological defence mechanism. All mentally healthy people have this defence. For a smoker, this means that, even though he or she knows the significance of quitting smoking, one may not want to believe it.
Anger is another common reaction that is exhibited by smokers who are in the process of quitting smoking. It is pretty natural since the body and mind is deprived off an important chemical that has created a craving through smoking.
After anger, bargaining is the stage where smokers want to postpone the inevitable. Everyone is tempted to bargain. Realizing that it is a natural part of the procedure of quitting sometimes helps the person to move past it. One may want to make a promise with friends or family members that he or she will not resort to smoking cigarettes again.
The acceptance of the truth that smoking is harmful and it is best to quit smoking at the earliest to lead a healthy life. Acceptance is the stage at which a person begins to realize the smoking lifestyle is over. The sense of grief will get resolved at this stage
With acceptance, one combines all the stages that came before. The smoker does not deny that quitting is hard, but finds the mind moving on to other things. The anger is slowly washed away with the sense of acceptance.
One can get on with living the newfound, healthier lifestyle. A key to moving through these stages to psychological recovery is the person’s attitude toward them. One has to look at them as part of the procedure. With the right kind of mindset and will power, getting over the habit of smoking is never difficult.
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