Psychological Recovery Stages To Stop Smoking – Acceptance and Bargaining

Only about 30 percent of women who smoke stop smoking when they find out they are pregnant; the proportion of quitters is highest among married women and women with higher levels of education.

Bargaining

Bargaining is the stage where smokers want to postpone the inevitable. You want to do all sorts of good things in return for a little lightening of the load of giving up cigarettes. You may try making deals with yourself like:

• “I think I have the worst licked. If I have just one cigarette, I’ll get right back on track afterward and I won’t do it again.”
• “I’ll quit for a week and then reward myself by smoking only on weekends.”
• “I’ll quit as long as my weight stays down. But if it goes up, I’ll have to choose. Better to smoke and not gain weight.”

Everyone is tempted to bargain. Realizing that it is a natural part of the procedure of quitting sometimes helps you to move past it. Laugh it off and have a heart-to-heart talk with the “child” inside you.
But you do need to stay on your toes with bargaining. When you really want a cigarette, that bargain can seem very reasonable.
You may want to make a promise with one of your friends or family members that you will talk it over with them before you follow any plan that includes smoking some cigarettes. They may be able to help you see through the bargain that is about to interrupt your campaign.

Acceptance

Acceptance is the stage at which you begin to realize your former smoking lifestyle is over. You are finally resolving your sense of loss or grief. A healthy person who has suffered a loss eventually accepts its reality and goes on living life. Some typical comments of acceptance are:

• “I think I’m going to do this. I still don’t like it a lot, but I think it will stick. “
• “I’d still like to smoke sometimes, but I choose not to.”
• “I am going to teach myself to like my new nonsmoking lifestyle. I’ll do it gradually and positively.”

With acceptance, you combine all the stages that came before. You don’t deny that quitting is hard, but you do find your mind moving on to other things. You stop being angry, but you remain annoyed that the tobacco companies suckered you into hurting yourself.