Behavior Modification, a New Way to Quit Smoking?

single greatest cause of preventable death…In the United States, it accounts for at least 430,700 deaths each year” (Taylor et al., 2006) Even without the book, and without the media telling me the negative effects of smoking, I knew it could not be good for me. When I go to sleep just after smoking, I notice my heart rate is very high, anytime I do strenuous physical activity, I always gasp for air after, although I do notice that I can hold my breath longer than many of my non smoking peers. I smoke mainly because the immediate payoffs outweigh the immediate consequences, and because I am human, evolutionary psychology shows that my immediate future is more salient than anything many years ahead (Ornstein, 1991). Sure I can get lung cancer or heart disease in 20-30 years, but that is less salient on my mind, besides I, like many others fall into the false consensus effect theory; I believe that the same health compromising behavior that kills hundreds of thousands a year, probably won’t affect me.

After the twelve day period, I continued with the one cigarette a night, after a few days of that, I went to one every other night. As I am writing this paper, I am down to two a week. My goal is to bring it down to zero, however as I have implied, the thought of being able to smoke in the future is the only thing allowing me to go without a cigarette for a period of time. What worked well in my intervention was that I did not give in to the abstinence violation effect which is “a feeling of loss of control that results when a person has violated self-imposed rules” (Taylor et al., 2006). On a couple of days I gave in and smoked more then I was supposed to, mainly because I was with my smoking friends, a main effect of abstinence violation is relapse, but I made sure I did not by telling myself it was a one time thing and I will continue with my original plan, that definitely helped me from saying “screw it” and continue to my old ways of four to five cigarettes

This intervention has taught me a lot about my specific cues for smoking and I have realized that for the most part it is not a severe addiction for me; rather it is just something to do between classes, lunch breaks, or socializing with friends. I am very thankful that I had the opportunity to do this, as I probably would have never monitored my smoking otherwise. Because of this project, I have cut my cigarettes down to only six percent of what I used to smoke, with no signs of relapse, or cravings during the day. Perhaps for the future, I will only smoke when girls hit on me, which is never. 🙂

References

1) Orleans, CT, Schoenbach, VJ, Wagner, EH, et al. (1991). Self-help quit smoking interventions: effects of self-help materials, social support instructions, and telephone counseling. Journal of consulting and clinical psychology, 59(3), 439-448.

2) Ornstein, R (1991). Evolution of Consciousness: The Origins of the Way We Think. New York: Touchstone

3) Taylor, S.E (2006). Health Psychology: Sixth Edition, Health-Compromising Behaviors (pp. 133-148), Health Behaviors (pp. 54-78). New York: McGraw Hill

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