UK - Smokers 'need anger help to quit'

[Junkhead23]

Smokers should be given anger management lessons to help them give up smoking, a study suggests.





University of California tests on 20 people found nicotine helped calm aggression, but it was more likely from people not wearing nicotine patches.
Researchers hypothesised smokers were more likely to be people prone to anger and said tackling this could be a vital part of smoking cessation services.
NHS stop smoking services said the research would be considered.
Researchers got the participants to play a computer game - once wearing a nicotine-replacement patch and once using a dummy patch, the Behavioural and Brain Functions journal reported.
After each round, the players could give their opponent a burst of unpleasant noise at a duration and volume set by them.
The study found that when the participants were not wearing the nicotine patch they were more likely to react with aggression.
The researchers believe nicotine affects the part of the brain responsible for emotion.
They said the smokers who struggled to quit were more likely to be the ones who found it hard to remain calm, and ended up turning to a cigarette to soothe them.
One in four people currently smokes in the UK - a figure that has remained fairly constant in recent years after decades of falling rates.



Cravings

Lead researcher Jean Gehricke said: "Novel behavioural treatments like anger management training may aid smoking cessation efforts in anger-provoking situations that increase withdrawal and tobacco cravings."
NHS stop smoking services use a combination of nicotine replacement therapies and counselling to help people give up, but not anger management sessions.
A spokesman for the Department of Health, which oversees NHS stop smoking services, said: "We will look at this research."
But he added NHS services were already proving successful.
"Smokers are up to four times more likely to quit successfully with NHS support and there are 150 NHS stop smoking services around the country."



http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8015217.stm

[Nature Boy]

Fuck that. Why load the NHS with yet another pointless pseudoscientific concept. Bad enough they have homeopathy programmes in publicly-funded hospitals but anger management for cigarette quitters really takes the cake. Yes, quitting tobacco does cause irritability but irritability can be handled with a bit of self-discipline. How long before we see someone using this kind of defence in a court of law after committing a violent crime?

[Kelveren]

I would tend to disagree. If anger management helps smokers to quit then it's likely they need it anyways. Many people don't have the tools they need to be disciplined when they're angry. Many do, but this isn't for them. This is for the people who don't have that discipline, don't have anyone giving them the tools to develop that discipline, and are self-medicating because they don't like being angry and out of control.

We are not alone in this world. What we do effects a lot of other people. If people who are stable stop caring about people who aren't it hurts everyone. If someone doesn't know how to make the tools to handle their emotions, and they -want- to learn how to handle them then other people need to step in and give them those tools. Living constantly on edge because you're afraid you're going to hurt someone and you don't know how to stop it isn't a way to live. We have emotions, but our society doesn't teach us how to handle them when we've been mis-trained from birth. Yes, we could try to develop the self-discipline, but what if we have? What if we've been trying and failing and we don't know another way?

Give people a choice. If they don't want it nothing will change, but if they actually want to change it can help.

[Nature Boy]

The cost is the issue though. The average tax payer shouldn't have to pick up the tab for this one. I'm sorry but socialised medicine is for serious conditions. It can't be all foot massages and back-rubs. Sure, offer this programme to people should they be willing to pay for it. They're sure as hell willing to pay for nicotine gum but insisting that this works its way directly into the NHS is madness if you ask me.

[Pringles]

I think it could work. smoking is a heavily taxed legally available very addictive drug. I went all day without a patch, got mad as hell & was this close to smoking >< If it keeps you smoke free then i vote yes. I am off to bed with a freshly applied patch. Sweet dreams!