How to Stop Smoking: Education & Advocacy

A study by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force found the impact of behavioral interventions to be “substantial” in helping people to quit smoking. Time-tested therapeutic approaches include Integrated Harm Reduction Therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy interventions.

Quit coaching can be used in conjunction with therapy or other cessation programs. Coaches may be trained like those on Quitline, or they may be former smoker peer counselors and health educators. Coaches can work one-on-one in person, over the phone, or even through texts and chats. Making it a convenient option for those with busy schedules looking to quit.

Both therapy and coaching approaches provide smokers with tools and a “plan” to quit. Therapy will delve deeper into the emotional and behavioral issues associated with tobacco addiction, helping you get to the core of your addiction.

Resources

The hardest part of quitting can be dealing with the symptoms of nicotine withdrawal and fighting the cravings. Using nicotine replacement therapy can double your chance of success, making the whole process a little less painful.

Nicotine replacement therapy delivers nicotine in small, controlled doses without all the harmful side effects of smoking, vaping, or chewing tobacco. Prescription medications are available as well. Medications don’t deliver nicotine, but they do help to reduce cravings. Talk to your doctor before taking any drug, even those widely available over-the-counter stop-smoking aids.

Resources

National organizations like the American Cancer Society and the American Lung Association have a long history of helping people quit. In addition to in-person support groups, they have online tools, information, and resources for quitting.

Many hospitals, local health departments, community and recreation departments, and companies offer in-person support and therapeutic groups. Some organizations use a class-based model while others may combine one-on-one counseling with group sessions. You can start by asking your doctor or by asking friends who have successfully quit for recommendations to find the best fit for you.

Resources

In our non-stop world, not everyone can carve out the time to attend a support group or one-on-one counseling. Luckily, mobile apps make finding the support you need quick and convenient. Apps can help you track your smoking stats from logging your cravings to watching your savings grow as you spend less on cigarettes, vapes, or chewing tobacco. Rewards are a big part of the app game, giving quitters a virtual pat on the back. They can be little hits of dopamine, fun distractions, or truly motivational.

Apps & Services

If every nurse in the U.S. helped just one person to stop smoking, they’d triple the quit rate. Registered Nurses are on the front lines of the battle against smoking. They provide trusted, confidential help during routine visits. Some facilitate groups in clinics, hospitals, or community settings.

Businesses and organizations hire contractors for on-site smoking cessation programs. They may be counselors or trained quit coaches. In addition to making quitting support and services more accessible, workplace cessation programs can cultivate the positive peer supports that lead to real success.

Substance abuse counselors may work specifically on issues of nicotine addiction or they may address smoking cessation in conjunction with other substance misuse issues. Smoking is one of the deadliest forms of addiction and helping people to quit while addressing other addictions can actually increase their chances for long-term sobriety.

Within a medical setting, health educators teach patients about health concerns linked to smoking and how it affects specific conditions like COPD. Then, they coordinate with doctors to create and implement a quit plan, providing resources along the way. In community, public school, and nonprofit settings, health educators teach and support quitters in one-on-one or group settings.

One reason why people used any substance is because they are trying to get rid of bad feelings. So, when you consider that shame is a bad feeling, when someone is feeling particularly bad about themselves, they are going to go to their substance. It creates a loop, an endless cycle. I find that with smokers the shame has led them to hide their use. It’s not helpful, because people will find a way to smoke if they need to smoke. The more successful they are at doing that, the more they will hold onto the addiction. The shame just makes it go underground. It doesn’t really help in that sense.

The value of the group is the shame reduction, the sharing of stories, the sharing of progress, the sharing of lack of progress. People just being able to come in and say “look, I’ve smoked more this week than I’ve ever smoked in my life” and someone else will say “I’ve had weeks like that, too.” Hopefully, people will get the sympathy or empathy that they need to make it more of a human process. It’s not a matter of smoking or not smoking. It becomes relationships with other people and support. You can’t get that one-on-one.

I would probably send them to therapy, but I am a little bit biased. I might ask how they have tried to quit. If they say, ‘cold turkey,’ I’d say why don’t you try cutting down one at a time and maybe figuring out some way of rewarding yourself for stopping one cigarette at a time.

I also think mindfulness meditation is a really good way of examining what is going on inside and what urges are coming up. Maybe a person can work in five minutes of meditation during that smoking time. People are generally not going to do that, honestly, if they want the cigarette. But what they can do is a meditation called urge surfing in which you try to tune into the urge. You feel the urge come up and you try to examine it in various ways like—what does it sound like? What does it feel like in my body? What color is it? Are the edges soft or hard? An urge usually goes away in a couple of minutes, especially if you can distract yourself.