Psychosocial Aspects of Smoking with Special Reference to Cessation

Abstract

Smoking is not an isolated habit but one that interlocks with other habits and many aspects of daily life. Therefore, discontinuation disrupts a variety of established behavior patterns and frustrates a variety of needs. The psychosocial forces which account for taking up smoking differ from those which account for continuation and habituation. Smokers also differ among themselves in the reasons for smoking, the needs which are satisfied by the habit, and the manner in which such satisfactions are gained. Therefore, we deal with a number of psychologically different smoking-behaviors requiring individual diagnoses and different "treatments" to achieve lasting discontinuation. Procedures aimed at helping the smoker quit must consider that cessation may intensify the very needs which have maintained the habit. Fear of cancer is unlikely to enable many smokers to abstain and may have detrimental effects unless there are positive rewards for the exsmoker''s continuous self-deprivation. The possibility of positive rewards in gradual rather than abrupt cessation should be studied. Attempts to help smlkers break the habit should rely more on research findings and less on hunches and trial-and-error.