Thank you to my readers for being patient while
my popular blog post:
Vocabulary ABC's in Mental Health Circles
was under reconstruction. It took longer
than was expected, so I thank you for that.
There are a few new terms added to the post, one being
management with fun activity suggestions. Another is
school, which tries to explain the challenges of attending
college with a mental illness. There are also more terms
redefined to keep up to date on what that word means to
someone who is mentally ill and/or family who cares about
two things, and that is: treatment and transparency.
There is one post that stands out for me, and that is the
term- "habits" where I found a site that explains why it is
so difficult for the mentally ill to quit smoking. I, myself,
have quit smoking now for a little over a year. It was
difficult, but with the help of my psychiatrist, I have been
smoke free. I am not out of the woods yet. I have been
known to return to smoking, even after two years of
abstinence. The important thing about quitting, for me,
is that I did it by choice, not an ultimatum.
It helps to have support from family and friends, but in the
beginning, if they smoke in front of you, it is hard to say no.
I used a different walking path to my apartment, avoiding the
smoking section. I distanced myself with acquaintances that
smoked and were edgy. I did this cold-turkey...without any
patch or vape or such. I did have the patch for four days, but
after it not really doing anything, I stopped the patch and
have been smoke free ever since.
One of the advice suggestions that was told to me is, "Just don't
have that first one." And, you know what? It makes sense and
has helped me in difficult instances. Of course, the price of a
pack of cigarettes is now around ten dollars a pack, in one year,
that would be $3,650.00 spent just on cigarettes alone. So the
increase in price has helped me while thinking in terms of
years and not months. Finally, it is getting more socially
unacceptable almost everywhere I go. Schools, parks, towns, even
states are considering outlawing smoking of any kind.
Personally, I think it is working...but...
But, to the mentally ill, it is not a habit, but required to calm
the voices. It is socially acceptable between peers. It used to
be used to calm down and help the transition process of entering
into an institute. The mentally ill use it more as coping skills,
and not out of addiction. We have been known to have a great
willpower, but when there are voices that only shut up when
you smoke, you are going to smoke. It cannot be an ultimatum.
The person must want to stop. I will tell you now, that the process
of quitting took me about one year to get there. It didn't happen
overnight.
my popular blog post:
Vocabulary ABC's in Mental Health Circles
was under reconstruction. It took longer
than was expected, so I thank you for that.
There are a few new terms added to the post, one being
management with fun activity suggestions. Another is
school, which tries to explain the challenges of attending
college with a mental illness. There are also more terms
redefined to keep up to date on what that word means to
someone who is mentally ill and/or family who cares about
two things, and that is: treatment and transparency.
There is one post that stands out for me, and that is the
term- "habits" where I found a site that explains why it is
so difficult for the mentally ill to quit smoking. I, myself,
have quit smoking now for a little over a year. It was
difficult, but with the help of my psychiatrist, I have been
smoke free. I am not out of the woods yet. I have been
known to return to smoking, even after two years of
abstinence. The important thing about quitting, for me,
is that I did it by choice, not an ultimatum.
It helps to have support from family and friends, but in the
beginning, if they smoke in front of you, it is hard to say no.
I used a different walking path to my apartment, avoiding the
smoking section. I distanced myself with acquaintances that
smoked and were edgy. I did this cold-turkey...without any
patch or vape or such. I did have the patch for four days, but
after it not really doing anything, I stopped the patch and
have been smoke free ever since.
One of the advice suggestions that was told to me is, "Just don't
have that first one." And, you know what? It makes sense and
has helped me in difficult instances. Of course, the price of a
pack of cigarettes is now around ten dollars a pack, in one year,
that would be $3,650.00 spent just on cigarettes alone. So the
increase in price has helped me while thinking in terms of
years and not months. Finally, it is getting more socially
unacceptable almost everywhere I go. Schools, parks, towns, even
states are considering outlawing smoking of any kind.
Personally, I think it is working...but...
But, to the mentally ill, it is not a habit, but required to calm
the voices. It is socially acceptable between peers. It used to
be used to calm down and help the transition process of entering
into an institute. The mentally ill use it more as coping skills,
and not out of addiction. We have been known to have a great
willpower, but when there are voices that only shut up when
you smoke, you are going to smoke. It cannot be an ultimatum.
The person must want to stop. I will tell you now, that the process
of quitting took me about one year to get there. It didn't happen
overnight.