Alongside physical and psychological dependence, specialists also speak of gestural dependence in some smokers.
"You find yourself in a context where you usually smoke and you mechanically light up a cigarette, or even several cigarettes one after the other. For example, you light a cigarette, take a puff and then, concentrating on your work, let it burn slowly without realizing it. It's all part of your smoking ritual, but you don't feel much pleasure from each cigarette. This reflex, this gestural or behavioral dependence, is generally the one that causes the most problems for smokers who want to quit.
For these "automatic" smokers, it's difficult to break these habits, and this reflex disrupts their motivation to quit. If they do manage to do so, it's one of the main dangers of relapse, when they find themselves in situations previously associated with smoking (after a meal, after an effort of reflection, in a bar...).
What's more, the gestures of lighting a cigarette, drawing and exhaling the smoke are also part of these habits that may be difficult to break, as are the taste of the smoke and the sensations associated with its passage through the respiratory tract.
The various cessation aids will highlight the vigilance that the new non-smoker must exercise in the face of this form of situational dependence. |
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