Most cigarette smokers understand that smoking is hazardous to your health. Despite this, millions attempt to quit each year unsuccessfully, because there is more to being hooked on cigarettes than the physical addiction to nicotine and tobacco. There are also psychological problems linked with smoking that make this habit all the more dangerous, and that in turn make quitting that much harder.
Linking of Pleasurable Activities and Smoking
The brain immediately feels the effects of smoking, thanks in large part to how fast nicotine reaches the brain shortly after a smoker takes the first puff. Social learning theory states that over time one learns to associate smoking with other pleasurable activities, including eating, drinking and socializing, according to Dr. Sheila Bonas in an article appearing on the UK website NetDoctor. People can become quickly conditioned to the point where the thought of a pleasurable activity triggers the need for a cigarette. These psychological associations remain when smokers try to quit and make stopping the habit once and for all difficult.
Psychological Addiction
The psychological addiction associated with smoking is caused by the nicotine inhaled. Cigarette nicotine has a direct effect on dopamine levels in the brain, which in term influence mood, appetite, and other aspects of brain chemistry controlled by this neurotransmitter. Repeated exposure to nicotine from smoking can quickly lead to the brain building up a tolerance for it, requiring the person to smoke more and more to produce the same effects on dopamine, according to the UK website psychoactive.org.
Psychological Problems and Secondhand Smoke
Evidence linking secondhand smoke exposure by women while pregnant to their child's attention deficit disorder (ADHD) and conduct disorder appeared on Highlighthealth.com and was reviewed by Walter Jessen in his article titled "Second-hand Smoke Exposure Linked to Psychological Problems in Children." The study compared patterns of psychopathology among three groups of children aged seven to 15 years, all of whom had significant behavioral and/or emotional problems. The results suggested that children whose mothers during pregnancy were exposed to tobacco either by smoking or exposure to secondhand smoke had more symptoms of ADHD and conduct disorder than children whose mothers did not experience smoke exposure.
Smoking and Stress
Many smoke as a way to cope with stress, according to the Cleveland Clinic website. Psychologically speaking, this may be true to some extent since nicotine can temporarily alter moods and make feelings of frustration, anger and anxiety seem less severe. However, while the mind might feel some temporary stress relief, the Cleveland Clinic points out that the body is experiencing the exact opposite. This is because nicotine causes blood pressure and heart rate to rise, tenses muscles, constricts blood vessels, and reduces the amount of oxygen that can get to the brain. In short, these physical symptoms actually impede the body's ability to deal with stress and in turn increase the stress level on a person's body.
