Cigarette smoke affects everyone it reaches, not just the smoker. Experts point out that passive smokers who are exposed to cigarette smoke for only 30 minutes experience the same physical effects as smokers. In fact, passive smoking can accelerate people's contact with cigarettes and trigger the formation of addiction.7
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Simge Alevsaçanlar Cücü, Specialist Clinical Psychologist from Üsküdar University NPISTANBUL Hospital, made important evaluations about smoking addiction and passive smoking.
Simge Alevsaçanlar Cücü said, "Addiction is a brain disease characterized by an intense desire to use a substance and the inability to stop oneself, despite the fact that a substance negatively affects one's physical, mental and/or social life."
When smoking, nicotine reaches the brain in a very short time and binds to the relevant receptors in the reward system in the brain. Thus, nicotine activates dopamine pathways in the brain and dopamine is released. This helps the person to enjoy and focus. Similarly, nicotine binds to the relevant receptors in the brain and some neurotransmitters are released, leading to changes such as calming and relaxation. In order to experience these pleasant changes again, our body craves more nicotine and thus the amount and frequency of cigarettes smoked increases over time. This leads to the formation of addiction."
"Smoking addiction is a chronic brain disease that needs to be treated"
Emphasizing that smoking addiction is a chronic brain disease that needs to be treated, Uzm. Clinical Psychologist Cücü continued his words as follows:
"It is possible to control smoking addiction with psychotherapy and medication support. With medication support, the person can reduce the withdrawal symptoms that will occur when quitting smoking, experience fewer cravings and control some of the emotional fluctuations caused by not smoking more easily. With psychotherapy support, it is aimed to provide some behavioral changes to prevent relapse, to develop skills to cope with cravings, to restructure the person's life without smoking and to enjoy life without smoking.
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Psychological problems trigger addiction
Factors that trigger smoking and addiction include curiosity, wannabe smokers, being part of a peer group of smokers and feeling peer pressure, having smokers in the family and taking them as a model, having poor coping skills with stress and distress, having few social support resources, having poor communication with family and support resources, experiencing psychological problems, etc. Factors can trigger smoking and addiction."
Only 30 minutes paves the way for health problems
Stating that the situation in which the person himself does not smoke but is exposed to cigarette smoke and all harmful substances in cigarette smoke in the environment where he is present is defined as "passive smoking", Cücü,
"Passive smokers exposed to cigarette smoke for only 30 minutes experience the same physical effects as smokers. People exposed to cigarette smoke are not only affected by all the toxic substances inhaled by the smoker, but are also exposed to toxic substances in unfiltered smoke from cigarettes. This situation creates a basis for passive smokers to experience many smoking-related health problems. Passive smoking can accelerate people's contact with cigarettes and thus trigger the formation of addiction. Studies show that children and young people who are exposed to cigarette smoke as passive smokers are 1.5-2 times more likely to start smoking than those who are not exposed to this situation."
Quitting smoking requires faith and determination!
"Quitting smoking is a serious initiative that requires determination, belief and motivation. Before taking this step, the person should have information about what kind of a disease smoking addiction is, how it affects him, his life and his future, and develop awareness and perception of harm about smoking addiction." Simge Alevsaçanlar Cücü, Specialist Clinical Psychologist from Üsküdar University NPISTANBUL Hospital, gave the following information about the process of quitting smoking:
"If the person does not want to quit smoking, the possible reasons for this situation should be determined first. The person may not see smoking as an addiction, he/she may think that smoking is his/her own will, he/she may not know how to live without smoking, he/she may think that it is very difficult to quit smoking, he/she may be afraid of the difficulties he/she may experience after quitting smoking, he/she may have false or distorted information about quitting smoking, he/she may have lost the belief that he/she can quit smoking due to previous unsuccessful quit attempts. These and many other thoughts and beliefs may cause a person not to want to quit smoking. After the thoughts and/or beliefs that prevent the emergence of the thought of quitting smoking are identified, these thoughts and/or beliefs are re-evaluated and tried to be placed on a more realistic basis. For example, a person who has a thought such as 'I can never quit smoking, a life without cigarettes is not possible for me' is re-evaluated, the distortions are corrected, and on a more realistic basis, the thought is reevaluated and the distortions are corrected and on a more realistic basis, 'It is difficult to quit smoking, but it is not impossible, since many people have succeeded, I can also succeed. I was not born with a cigarette, I have spent many years without smoking, and I can live my next years without smoking and enjoying it. It may be difficult for me to get used to this situation at first, but I can cope with this difficulty. I have overcome many difficult things so far, I can overcome this too'."
"First we need to change the way we think"
Simge Alevsaçanlar Cücü, Specialist Clinical Psychologist from Üsküdar University NPISTANBUL Hospital, concluded his words as follows:
"Our thoughts about a subject shape our emotions and behaviors, so if we want to change a behavior pattern permanently, we should start by changing the way we think about it. Just like smoking, quitting smoking is also a behavior pattern. If a person wants to continue smoking behavior or wants to avoid quitting smoking behavior, discovering the thoughts that cause and contribute to this behavior in the background is the first step that can be taken for change."
