2023-08-10 16:53:54
10 ago 2023 . Updated at 11:25 a.m.psychological treatment in smokers with tobacco dependence today is the treatment of first choice. Despite this, it is not widespread in our healthcare system. Why is this?
Still today smoking is the leading preventable cause of mortality and morbidity. In Spain, 52,000 smokers die prematurely every year, 143 per day, 1,000 per week. Since there are so many, and every day, it has ceased to be news. Humans, and society, have an incredible ability to adapt to the negative and to look the other way so that undesirable reality does not affect us.
For more than 50 years, psychologists have been effectively treating smokers. We have technology, in the form of psychological treatment, which achieves that they stop smoking and that they do not relapse. It is done from psychological science, with the learning of new skills, through the performance of tasks maintained over time, the physiological (tobacco dependence), psychological (habit, erroneous beliefs) and social (pressure) components are weakened and eliminated. consumption) and thus stop smoking. Because tobacco dependence is not a disease, it is a learned habit that must be unlearn. For international reference organizations, such as the WHO, tobacco dependence is a mental and behavioral disorder, not a disease. There is no disease from smoking, although smoking causes many diseases. For this reason, psychological treatment does not require the use of drugs. It is effective by itself.
Another key to the success of psychological treatment is that smokers frequently carry personal problems or disorders, such as depression, anxiety, stress, eating, low motivation, hopelessness, family problems, etc. All this is taken into account so that they can quit smoking.
Our extensive clinical experience of several decades, and the treatment of thousands of smokers, testifies to the high demand, efficacy, acceptance and appreciation of psychological treatments. It’s logical. The smoker achieves his objective: to quit smoking. And, with this, his quality of life improves, he feels better physically and psychologically, and he will live longer.
There are several ways in which you have to influence all smokers to stop smoking, such as encouraging them to quit by themselves, as public campaigns do, and systematic medical advice, But when this fails there is no more remedy than to go to a specialized, professional treatment, carried out by experts, such as psychological.
Why are psychological treatments not applied more? Basically for two reasons. The first, for the few psychologists clinics in the national health system. The second, because the pharmaceutical companies that sell smoking cessation drugs use all their marketing, promotion and publicity to convince of their benefits, which we then see, decade after decade, appear and disappear in a short time. Because drugs alone are ineffective. In order for them to work, they require intensive professional support or psychological treatment, carried out by a specialized psychologist, which is rarely done, and sometimes other professionals even pretend to be such without being one.
Concepción Arenal used to say that the sound of laughter passes, the strength of reasoning remains. One day we will see psychological treatments for smokers and other mental health problems widely implemented in our national health system. Meanwhile, we continue to wait… and sadly watch as thousands of smokers die prematurely.
Filed under: Smoking
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