Health Care Blog

Behavior Modification: Smoking

Since my childhood I have always known that smoking was bad for your health. My father smoked when I was still very young, but abandoned because of health risks imposed on his family and himself. Left cold turkey, which directly and exclusively for themselves. He said it was difficult, but I got over it. Since then told me not to smoke. Now I can not tell you exactly how to smoke, but surely started after my 18th Birthday, when I was legally able to buy cigarettes. I bought my first pack only because I could, and I smoked it regularly to school, especially if others did, and women especially if they were attractive. That made me think I was cool enough to handle them. As the months passed, I began to increasingly stressed with school and work, I slowly grew dependent on cigarettes. When I was 19, I always had when I studied, worked or socialized with my friends smoke, because most of my friends were smokers. I left several times to the target, because I goals as trying to stop smoking for two weeks, but I’ve never managed a constant target for the fear of losing my crutch. For example, I do not think for two weeks of smoke, which has allowed me to refrain from thinking that I can have a cigarette after two weeks.

Tracy Orleans, et al. , (1991) conducted a study on interventions to stop smoking. The study consisted of four groups, has (a) self-help, which will drive a standard car to stop with someone else, (b) the group of social support that have had to stop the same car with a guide to support sorry for her family and friends, (c) the telephone group, which was the same car to stop material, but with four phone calls to a consultant, and (d) control, which were only given advice on smoking cessation and referral local quit smoking programs. The results of the study were not statistically significant, the closing of the control and experimental groups were about the same, the only difference is out as the two groups. The experimental groups were close to the rewarding behavior strategies (eg, quit by setting a time, switching brands, etc.), while the control group to use more outside help (such as group therapy on a voluntary basis, nicotine gum / patches , etc.). An interesting finding in this article were heavy smokers were less likely to leave time with the help of self-help alone that were lighter, less dependent smokers (Orleans et al., 1991). This may seem like common sense seems in retrospect, because much longer, heavier smokers are more dependent, so its harder for them to stop, a similar argument could on the contrary, light smokers are less likely to be added to leave because they think that the threats to health are too trivial, because there is no immediate concern, while long-term smokers are more likely with a chronic disease because of its smoke can be diagnosed, and then force them to stop because of her health. Even if the first is the finding by the study, the second was found in my speech specifications, as well as my brief encounter with the smokers in the past.

My strategy was designed to monitor my smoke for five days, then put my plan was to smoke a cigarette less per day. Now I have only smoked about 4-5 cigarettes a day, so my plan was to start with five, then jumps down to zero. Of course, as I said before, I knew that this would be easy, because my goal for the future was to smoke again. I began my change in the behavior of smoking in the first five days, only three the next day, but then on the third day I was at the thought, furious that nicotine checking on me, then you use the self-control, I have not smoked cigarettes in three days. For four days I had two, but only a smoke smoked in the night, this cigarette one night I felt better than any cigarette that I had smoked in the last few weeks. I wanted that feeling again, I knew that withdrawal from nicotine. The next three days went length of my original plan and was smoking a cigarette in the night. I have a form of operant conditioning, in which “the individual will conduct and the behavior is followed by positive reinforcement” (Taylor et al., 2006). In this case, the very euphoric feeling of a nicotine rush is the reward by a withdrawal from nicotine is smoke all day (which is the behavior). Of course this can not be the ideal goal of operant conditioning, but significantly reduce the number of cigarettes I smoked in a day.

Change this behavior was only temporary in my head, and experiments in the past. I follow my habits of smoking, because my health is probably the most common risk behavior (apart from my bike ride, but I do not think that health is a “problem, rather a way of life”) issues. According to the text, “Smoking is the single greatest cause of preventable death … In the United States, it is at least 430,700 deaths each year accounts (Taylor et al., 2006) Even without the book, and with no means to me to say, knowing the negative consequences of smoking, I could not that good for me. If I only sleep after smoking, I noticed that my heart rate is very high, every time I train, I always have to gasp for breath, although I understand that I can hold my breath longer than many of my non-smoking peers. I smoke mainly because beyond the immediate return of its immediate consequences, and why people who have developmental psychology shows that my immediate future more than anything major to come for many years (Ornstein, 1991). sure I get lung cancer or heart disease in 20-30 years, but is less relevant in my mind as well that I like many others fall into the false consensus effect theory, I believe that the health threat that the same behavior Hundreds of thousands killed a year, probably no effect on me.

After the period of twelve days, I have continued with the cigarette one night, after a few days ago that I went to every other night. As I write this, I have two weeks. My goal is to reduce it to zero, but since I have been necessary, the idea to smoke in the future is the only thing that allowed me to go without a cigarette for a period of time. What worked well in my speech is that I am not the effect of the violation of abstinence, the “feeling of loss of control that results when a person is injured self-imposed rules” (Taylor et al. 2006). In a few days ago I gave up and smoked more than me, especially because I smoke with my friends, a main effect of violation of abstinence and relapse, but I made sure I did once tell me that was one thing, and I going with my original plan, which certainly helped me to say screw it “and continue my old ways of four or five cigarettes continue

This intervention gave me a lot about my specific instructions from the smoke-taught and I realized that in most cases no serious addiction for me, but it’s just something to do between classes, lunch, or socialize with friends. I am very grateful that I had had the opportunity to do so, as I would have probably never checked my smoke differently. Through this project, I cut my cigarettes only up to six percent of what I smoke too, with no signs of relapse, or they want during the day. Perhaps in the future, I have to smoke only when the girls hit on me, 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). The Evolution of Consciousness: The origins of our thinking. New York: Touchstone

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