Substance abuse, and eventual addiction, is among the most pressing issues in many societies today. One of the most common things that individuals get addicted to is cigarette smoking, perhaps due to the active ingredients in tobacco with nicotine being the most potent one.
Snapping out of addiction is necessary because smoking has been found to be really harmful to health. It has been linked to various kinds of lung illnesses and other respiratory maladies. There are studies that suggest that incessant smoking has effects on sexual function and other key body operations.
But getting out of addiction is one very difficult journey. In this article, we present the crucial roles that pharmaceutical and social interventions play in making sure that patients effectively get rid of the habit.
Rehabilitation and medication work, complemented by community action.
Among the most common treatments for nicotine addiction is rehabilitation and putting the patient under medication. Pharmacists and other medical professionals are important during these processes. They make sure that patients get the right amount of medication at the right time. They also check for signs of allergies so that the patient can switch medications immediately. If proper care is not provided and the patient suffers harm as a result, the patient may be able to seek the help of medical malpractice attorneys at law firms like seattlemalpracticelawyers.com to help with a medical malpractice claim.
Most smoking cessation medication works by disrupting the way the body responds to nicotine. If the patient feels pleasure or even relaxation when smoking, the medication will interrupt this reaction and cause the body to respond differently.
Once rehabilitation is done and the patient stops taking the medicines, the artificially induced reaction to nicotine also goes away. It’s important for patients to be prepared for this as they begin to deal with the same situations that pushed them to smoke in the first place such as being pressured at work, stress over family problems, and other factors.
Because of this, there is a need to teach the patient other means of coping with life’s stressors, so that they will have other effective methods to calm themselves down. This is where social interventions can come into play.
Social or community-based interventions point to members of the family or even trusted colleagues as the potential source of support. These interventions might also involve the people in the patient’s immediate environment, teaching them how to support their loved one so that the patient is not put in a situation that triggers a relapse early in the process.
Relapses are normal, and they are not necessarily signs of failure.
Speaking of relapses, it’s perfectly normal for a patient to experience a relapse once in a while. During such times, the urge to consume nicotine becomes so strong they might actually fall into using the substance again.
The struggle is hard and real, and falling into relapse is going to be such a discouraging experience. Again, medication can help to avoid this, but social support is also very important. Simple motivational conversations can do wonders for someone who is trying their best to recover.
When it comes to smoking cessation, a patient does not actually have to choose one intervention only. They can take advantage of both pharmaceutical and social interventions for a more holistic approach.
