[Skybird]

Those of you wanting to quit smoking:
don't do it alone. Like there are the Anonymous Alcoholics, there are comparable groups for smokers. A friend whom you give agreement to treat you quite hard if needed (you try to smoke one), also is of help. He needs to will to do anything to get a fight started whenever you try to brake your indention to quit smoking. He must be willing to even slap your face as often as needed to get that fight started. an if it is in public and people are staring - let them stare. They don't mean anything to you.

therapy aiming at insights and making you aware of why it is unreasonable to smoke is useless and a waste of time, they never have made a single smokers stopping to smoke. Only behavioural therapy and behaviour alteration promises chances for success. and that may be a more difficult task and may lead you to more changes in your life than you may imagine in the beginning.

I use to say like it is a common word for alcoholics as well: once you have been an alcoholic, you will remain one for the rest of your life even when you become dry. You are always at risk of going back to it. It is the same with cigarettes. So: avoid places where there is smoking . change your behaviour, and if needed, your social life. Get rid of friends that do not care and do not stop smoking in your presence, or tell you that it is not so dangerous. If they don't do you that favour and don't accept that you try to stay clean, they are no real friends anyway. Always remember, you are a junkie. Once a junkie, forever a junkie. You never will be at peace with that drug. All you will ever get is a cease-fire. Don't accept to run into situations where you may be tempted to smoke a cigarette again. Skip such dates from your calender. Delete such friends from your list, at least as long as you haven' been clean for one year and won a certain amount of stability.

Again: the key word is alteration of behaviour. That's why it is so difficult to stop smoking, it is not so much the physiological dependency. What you need most is "robust" support by others, people who will not shy away but even start a fight with you when they see you trying to pick one up.

That's for the mental, the behavioural, the social side of it. For the physiological side of things, meet a doctor and therapist. If you are an extreme hardcore smoker smoking several packages per day, even a stationary decontamination during an artificial coma of 24-36 hours may be an option. Especially when you are abusing other drugs as well.

Moral of the story: find powerful allies!