There was an author named Allen Carr, an Englishman, I believe, who wrote a book called The EasyWay to Quit Smoking.
I can attest to the relative ease his method provides, over quitting cold turkey. Essentially, he uses tools of psychology to reinforce his points, such as spaced repetition, but he also dissects the psychology at play inside the smoker's mind.
He frames nicotene addiction as a state of brainwashing, and enumerates all sorts of behavior as examples.
When smokers begin, usually as teenagers, there is a lot wrapped up in, or at least was 20 years ago, the coolness of it. This is precisely why you see actors and actresses smoking cigarettes with exotic technique of holding the cigarette, or generally looking intriguing, it is an extremely effective heuristic. Everyone who smokes their first cigarette obviously has immediate negative physical effects. They cough, it burns the throat, they get nauseous, or just a plain nicotene buzz, etc. Yet since they know that cigarettes are so cool, or otherwise lent social proof, all of this is rationalized and minimized, in the goal of validation of your peers.
A lot of the other information contrasts nonsmokers behavior to also shatter these illusions. Smokers lie to themselves that the cigarettes are what is keeping them together. But nonsmokers don't seem in the aggregate less confident, or less healthy, or less mentally stable, or any of these lies we tell ourselves. That means that controlling for the cigarettes reveals them to be the causal factor.
One of the low level rationalizations daily smokers make on an hourly basis or so, is that they are ready for that next cigarette. It is time. To the extent that they can't close that loop, this is where the _true_ stress from nicotene addiction happens. They've essentially built up experience of a heuristic for long enough, of the feeling coming, the smoking, and the feeling going away. In the smokers mind, actually smoking the cigarette is what curbs the craving, thus, the smoking is necessary.
There are a myriad other rationalizations made, all in the name of not having to go through what we assume will be a hellacious withdrawal, because we wont be able to stop thinking about it. But thats only because we trust this faulty heuristic that says stress -> smoke -> no stress.
The book simply goes through all of these rationalized fallacies, as the author smoked for 33 years, and used them all himself. The process of reading all of this information in short succession, in addition to some of the coping mechanisms that are essentially more tricks of the mind, or ways to frame the thoughts that inevitably arise when a smoker quits, I believe has sort of a triggering effect, not unlike juicy gossip and the 24 hour news cycle. However, the reader is triggered to parry each nagging thought with the context in which it is a fallacy. If this can be successfully done, the normal feelings of dreading the withdrawal can be replaced with almost a sadism for the part of your mind that is receding in its influence, abstracting the sum of this brainwashing to a monster in your mind. He is the one who wants the nicotene, he is the one freaking out, not me. I'm breathing deeply, and smelling food again.
I think I understand a lot of the general underpinnings, but I have yet to find the EasyWay to do anything else. I still contend at least part of the answer lies in this psychological realm, if not almost all of it.
> I think I understand a lot of the general underpinnings, but I have yet to find the EasyWay to do anything else
It's funny that the Easy Way to quit smoking actually discourages any kind of replacement for smoking. I tried to do it "right" and follow that direction, but eventually I started chewing gum. It felt like a failure at first, but it worked so no regrets.
My realization there was, life is a series of habits, or addictions. Some positive and some negative. Accept that, and treat them all as something outside the self. Suddenly, working out, studying, flossing, all of these simple things that seemed difficult before were now easy.
I'm sure I'm not explaining well. It's probably not something that can be explained. Just know that quitting smoking grants you a superpower, the power of not giving a fuck. And that's the greatest power there is.
> It's funny that the Easy Way to quit smoking actually discourages any kind of replacement for smoking.
Which seems odd to me.
I quit smoking after after (something like) 25 years by replacing it with vaping. Probably isn't all that healthy but also probably isn't going to kill me either and, meh, I like my nicotine. I've had exactly 2 cigarettes since I switched and that was in the first month or so, have no desire to smoke a cigarette even when I'm in the middle of a pack of smokers puffing away.
The main issue I've had is I turned it into a hobby so was buying a bunch of vape gear from China to try out different stuff so it was costing me a lot more than I was spending on cigarettes but I reigned that in so now I spend something like $25 every 3 weeks on e-juice. Could get that down but I really like my clouds -- actually get smokers asking me about that because they tried out vaping but weren't satisfied then see me chucking a big cloud and are like "that's what I want".
So, yeah, replacement totally worked in my case...still addicted but they'll have to pry my caffeine and nicotine from my cold, dead hands because I actually like them.
When you say that you like nicotene, can you at least agree with the general idea that you like the ability to end the general stress that comes from not being able to smoke when its on your mind?
Here's another thought experiment from the book: The author says that when he meets people for the purposes of doing seminars and speaking events, He asks smokers if they would pay $1000 up front, for a lifetime supply of cigarettes. He said that he has never once gotten anyone to take him up on the offer, and he did this for over 25 years before he died.
But if you offered a smoker that deal for things like food, or gasoline, or anything else they see themselves using forever, and $1000 is significantly less than the a la carte price for the lifetime supply, of course they would take the deal, assuming they could be sure it was legitimate, and assuming the $1000 could be secured.
The author uses this thought experiment to show that all addicted smokers wish they could quit, even if they can't admit it to themselves. Hes saying that the very fact you are unwilling to pay ahead of time is proof that you're making a calculation in your head that you envision your self quitting before you spend another $1000 on tobacco, or whatever the vice.
I've read that Carr's business expanded to several other vices. The two I know of are alcohol abuse, and overeating. What I've read about them makes me think of the story from WWII, placing armor on areas of planes that were _not_ getting shot, instead of the areas getting shot. It is only the planes that came back to be repaired that got shot in superficial locations. Others got shot where it counted, but couldn't report that information. It is the misuse of a heuristic long enough to reinforce that heuristic as "proper".
I've read reviews about the alcohol techniques and the dietary techniques as being nothing more than "just stop drinking" and "just become a vegetarian". But I've also read reviews of the very same books that the sound like the reader had the same experience I did with quitting smoking.
So maybe the bad reviews are just the people who the concepts didn't make sense to, and just like every other person who has ever come along to get them to stop this behavior, they shut down and clung to the addiction's false security, rather than be berated and belittled as a brainwashed zombie who has made an incredibly long chain of terrible mistakes to the point they have stockholm syndrome.
The good reviews are people the concepts did resonate with, as evidenced by their elation due to not paying for the opportunity to kill themselves any faster than absolutely necessary.
Ya for me that book didn't resonate at all. I thought it was a piece of trash and don't understand how anyone could actually go in without some skepticism about the shit he's feeding you. I still vape, have to wear a nicotine patch at work to focus, etc, so obviously my attitude toward that book was the problem. IMO it's just a bunch of drivel but if people read it and believe it they swear it to be true. To be clear, I'm not knocking the book but just highlighting how my attitude differs and accentuating that to state that attitude and willingness are probably a big part of the success. vapes with cynical expression
The super concise summary: quitting is hard MOSTLY because you think it is hard. The rest of the book is just examples of that fact. This may not be true for everyone, but it certainly turned out to be true for me. But it's not something easily conveyed through words. I suspect this book is effective only for people who are ready to quit, but needed that external trigger prompting them to do so.
Hope you quit soon. Life isn't all rosy on the other side, but it feels a hell of a lot more real.
Carr specifically addresses this point in the book. He said that he was hurt to find out that after he'd published his book, and gave signed copies to friends, in the hope they would quit, many of his friends never even started the book. One of them finally admitted to him that they knew if they finished the book, they'd have to quit. So to prevent that, they just never started the book.
He also approaches the subject from the angle of timing, and that stressful periods may be more difficult, because stress is one of the triggers. Or at least we convince our selves it removes stress.
So I 100% agree that just like learning anything else you have to be willing to hear the information and process it without just dismissing it out of hand. Somewhat related is the Upton Sinclair quote, "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it”.
I totally went in with tons of skepticism. Here's some huckster telling me theres a secret way. Yeah, ok. But I guess after reading enough of it, I started to realize that I had become really good at coming up with excuses, and that skill was being used against me to keep smoking. In my view, he made a persuasive argument, and wasn't trying to sell me more shit. By the time I finished the book, I was completely convinced that he was correct, even though I had not yet had my last cigarette.
I also read the book over two days, so I really got the whole message in a short amount of time, as opposed to reading a page or two a day for six months.
The way I stopped smoking after 20 years of 30 a day, was to consciously imagine negative things each time I smoked one (and remembered to do it).
I would think of how bad they could taste first thing in the morning sometimes, a mental image of a stale full ashtray close up together with the bad smell of it, and a slight feeling of gagging and throwing up one sometimes experienced. All while continuing to puff away without restraint.
Over time, I noticed I was not finishing an increasing number of cigarettes entirely, and that I was feeling a bit sick. I reinforced that negative feeling when I noticed it.
Eventually I just... stopped. When I thought of a cigarette I felt bad and the negative feelings would overtake me. I would call it stopping without trying. I wonder if this is a form of thought "replacement".
Interesting. I started smoking despite knowing what was wrong with it (my grandfather died of lung cancer). At the time, I was battling depression and a drug habit. I made many changes in my life to get out of that pit; unfortunately cigarettes were one of them. So it struck me that smoking can't be all that bad, since it helped me pick my life back together.
Now, I'm clean of smoking too - by slowly cutting down the habit to 2/day and then drinking a glass of water whenever I crave a cigarette. I haven't had any nicotine in 4 months or so.
To whoever's reading this - if you have any addictions taking over you, remember that all is not lost. You can still get out of it. There isn't a one-size-fits-all technique, but there is always a technique. Find it and achieve it.
This book was a revelation to me. I remember my last cigarette like it was yesterday, and I truly enjoyed it. I haven't smoked in 11 years, and it's thanks to this book. It took me three years to stop dreaming about smoking though, and I know I'm not an "ex-smoker". Being aware of that is the strongest part of the deal. I know that I could smoke again with so much ease that I refuse to even touch a cigarette. In the end, it's the best thing I've ever done in my life, and that book helped me so much.
I don't remember where I read it but I said something like "90% of all smokers stop smoking at some point in their life" and all I could think of was no way I'm in the 10% loser group who can't stop. If 90% can do it, I can do it too.
There are certainly common aspects, such as mantras, and the general motivation for meditating, vs seizing control of your mind, to not let it be lead by the cigarette.
I can attest to the relative ease his method provides, over quitting cold turkey. Essentially, he uses tools of psychology to reinforce his points, such as spaced repetition, but he also dissects the psychology at play inside the smoker's mind.
He frames nicotene addiction as a state of brainwashing, and enumerates all sorts of behavior as examples.
When smokers begin, usually as teenagers, there is a lot wrapped up in, or at least was 20 years ago, the coolness of it. This is precisely why you see actors and actresses smoking cigarettes with exotic technique of holding the cigarette, or generally looking intriguing, it is an extremely effective heuristic. Everyone who smokes their first cigarette obviously has immediate negative physical effects. They cough, it burns the throat, they get nauseous, or just a plain nicotene buzz, etc. Yet since they know that cigarettes are so cool, or otherwise lent social proof, all of this is rationalized and minimized, in the goal of validation of your peers.
A lot of the other information contrasts nonsmokers behavior to also shatter these illusions. Smokers lie to themselves that the cigarettes are what is keeping them together. But nonsmokers don't seem in the aggregate less confident, or less healthy, or less mentally stable, or any of these lies we tell ourselves. That means that controlling for the cigarettes reveals them to be the causal factor.
One of the low level rationalizations daily smokers make on an hourly basis or so, is that they are ready for that next cigarette. It is time. To the extent that they can't close that loop, this is where the _true_ stress from nicotene addiction happens. They've essentially built up experience of a heuristic for long enough, of the feeling coming, the smoking, and the feeling going away. In the smokers mind, actually smoking the cigarette is what curbs the craving, thus, the smoking is necessary.
There are a myriad other rationalizations made, all in the name of not having to go through what we assume will be a hellacious withdrawal, because we wont be able to stop thinking about it. But thats only because we trust this faulty heuristic that says stress -> smoke -> no stress.
The book simply goes through all of these rationalized fallacies, as the author smoked for 33 years, and used them all himself. The process of reading all of this information in short succession, in addition to some of the coping mechanisms that are essentially more tricks of the mind, or ways to frame the thoughts that inevitably arise when a smoker quits, I believe has sort of a triggering effect, not unlike juicy gossip and the 24 hour news cycle. However, the reader is triggered to parry each nagging thought with the context in which it is a fallacy. If this can be successfully done, the normal feelings of dreading the withdrawal can be replaced with almost a sadism for the part of your mind that is receding in its influence, abstracting the sum of this brainwashing to a monster in your mind. He is the one who wants the nicotene, he is the one freaking out, not me. I'm breathing deeply, and smelling food again.
I think I understand a lot of the general underpinnings, but I have yet to find the EasyWay to do anything else. I still contend at least part of the answer lies in this psychological realm, if not almost all of it.