Nicotine abuse therapy and treatment options

There are various treatment options for nicotine abuse. If you think of the aforementioned bio-psycho-social model, their respective methods also address the correspondingly different levels. And as you might guess, the success of therapy will increase through a combination of several such methods – when ‘biological’, ‘psychological’ and ‘social’ factors interact with each other.

Nicotine replacement therapy and psychiatric drugs

Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT for short) is a common way of counteracting the withdrawal symptoms associated with abstinence from tobacco and getting a grip on the mainly neurophysiological factors that result from a de facto substance dependency and increase the pressure of addiction and therefore abuse. The nicotine that has become necessary for the body as a result of tobacco abuse is substituted in the form of common nicotine replacement products such as nicotine patches/chewing gum and gradually phased out in a controlled manner.

An innovative https://snuzone.com/en-eu/blogs/infos/quit-smoking-with-nicotine-polacrilex-and-white-snus, a pharmaceutical formulation of nicotine bound to a so-called ion exchange resin, which enables a controlled and even nicotine intake, could certainly offer an interesting opportunity in the future and provide a successful alternative to nicotine chewing gum.

>> Read here how a doctor and expert in smoking cessation programmes advocates nicotine pouches as cigarette alternatives when quitting smoking in his practical work.

Treatment with psychiatric drugs is also common – particularly those from the antidepressant group, especially bupropion and nortriptyline. However, the drug varenicline, a so-called nicotine receptor agonist developed specifically for tobacco cessation, is also commonly used.

In any case, such treatment approaches aim to alleviate the withdrawal symptoms and the desire to smoke in tobacco cessation, which – one could say – starts at the neuro-‘biological’ level.

Psychotherapy

There are usually numerous psychological factors and triggers that favour tobacco abuse. For example, a dysfunctional way of dealing with stressful situations or the often unconscious fulfilment of other (emotional) needs through consumption. Psychotherapy can provide relief, solutions and, in the long term, coping strategies – which, in the best case, can prevent a relapse. For this reason alone, it is extremely useful as a complementary measure to the aforementioned approach.

Cognitive and behavioural therapy (CBT) offers a promising approach here – which above all allows the maladaptive schemata already mentioned, i.e. unfavourable behavioural patterns with psychologically relevant dynamics, to be cleared and modified. In most cases, therapy successes can be achieved quickly and psychological distress can be reduced.

Other psychotherapeutic approaches such as psychodrama (PD) or systemic family therapy (SF) can also address psychosocially unfavourable dynamics in the case of nicotine abuse and help to understand the aforementioned social circumstances that promote addiction and their effects on abusive consumption behaviour.

Life and social counselling in smoking counselling

Difficult social circumstances often favour tobacco abuse. For example, precarious living conditions or simply the complexity of everyday life can be overwhelming. Various facilities and centres for smoking counselling can provide targeted help to break out of such socially overwhelming circumstances and find sustainable solutions. Anyone who wants to get their nicotine addiction under control can also take advantage of the help on offer here, which is usually free of charge.

There are therefore various treatment approaches that – understood in terms of the bio-psycho-social model – can counteract tobacco abuse in a variety of ways. In practice, they usually interact with each other – in the form of interdisciplinary connexion – and can then also promise the greatest success.

How can tobacco abuse be avoided?

If you don’t start in the first place, you don’t run the risk of becoming addicted to tobacco. And for those who would still like to enjoy it, we would like to remind you of the aforementioned multidimensional health/disease model. When reflecting on your own needs and behaviour, it can be very helpful to consider the three levels of biological, psychological and social equally. Possible neuralgic aspects often become clearer in this way when it comes to one’s own consumer behaviour – which can of course extend beyond nicotine/tobacco consumption.

Anyone who can recognise in the light of this that psycho-social factors in particular influence their own behaviour in such a way that relatively excessive consumption and abuse could be obvious – regardless of the tobacco addiction potential – should take particular care when using tobacco products. In this case, it can help to make use of preventive psychotherapy or social counselling services – also simply to promote personal development.
Knowing your own self is reassuring and gives you the opportunity to develop yourself to the full.

It can often also be helpful to monitor your own consumption targets – perhaps in dialogue with your friends and family. And if you don’t manage to stick to a set amount of consumption, even if your own coping strategies should actually help, you should rely all the more on external support.

In any case, the following applies: keep your consumption as reflective as possible and enjoy it instead of ‘needing’