A Mindfulness Approach To Smoking Cessation

The stresses of everyday life can be a powerful trigger for the smoker trying to quit

. Situations that used to precipitate the lighting of a cigarette must now be dealt with another way, and unless they are, the threat of regressing becomes very likely. So how can people cope with these stresses that produce the craving to smoke?

Many experts believe that that a mindfulness based approach to stress reduction can be the key to handling those cravings.

Techniques such as Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy have been used with much success as a way to manage stress and to break habitual patterns. Instead of turning to smoking at the first sign of stress, these mindfulness techniques offer the smoker an accessible and healthy alternative for managing these triggers without lighting up.

Below is a brief description of each technique:

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction was developed by Jon-Kabat Zinn, a PhD at the University of Massachusetts, in 1979. MBSR uses intentional, present-moment awareness to help people tap into whatever is happening in their life as it unfolds, without judgment or curiosity. The process, based on Eastern meditation, helps people to become more skillful and creative in their responses to real world stimuli, eliminating destructive habitual patterns such as smoking.

It is universal and easily accessible, allowing people the ability to develop intelligent and thoughtful reactions to events and circumstances as they are happening, and to construct unique, healthy reactions in response.

Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy

Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) is similar to MBSR, in that it combines present-moment meditative practices with conventional cognitive therapy techniques. The therapy, developed by Zindel Segal, Mark Williams and John Teasdale, and based on Zinns MBSR model, allows participants to cultivate a right-now awareness of what is happening within them.

MBCT uses Eastern meditative techniques and cognitive therapies to help patients become acquainted with the different modes of the mind that can often characterize addictions such as smoking. Through this technique, the ex-smoker begins to develop healthy responses to the stressful stimuli that were previously managed through smoking.

By focusing on what is rather than all the potential negatives that could be, MBCT helps people break harmful, repetitive responses and patterns that can lead to addiction and health problems.

An unhealthy amount of stress can be disastrous to the smoker trying to quit. Learning to manage these stresses effectively and in a timely manner can be the key to successful cessation.

by: Robert Henderson

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