The Family Center of Knoxville
The Family Center of Knoxville
  • Home
  • Psychological Services
  • Bio
  • Therapy Expectations
  • Contact and Directions
  • Psychology Blog
  • Forms
  • Resources

Instead of smoking that cigarette, why not just suck your thumb?

9/23/2013

13 Comments

 
This post isn’t going to focus on the health, economic, and social risks of smoking cigarettes. It’s not going to focus on interventions like nicotine gum, the patch, or going "cold turkey". I want to talk about the psychology of smoking within the framework of Sigmund Freud’s developmental stages.

I won’t write in depth regarding Freud, mainly for the sake of brevity and because his theories are widely considered to be inefficient and inaccurate. However, there is merit to the oral phase of his developmental theory in relation to cigarette smoking.

Freud's oral phase occurs in the first year of life where the baby’s existence is largely centered on instant gratification. Babies are oral, whether it’s nursing, eating, tasting a new toy, biting, crying, babbling, etc. Freud posited that if you didn’t mature and develop healthily, you would be stuck in certain developmental stages and riddled with anxiety (read more about anxiety here).

So the oral phase of Freud’s developmental theory emphasizes the need for oral gratification at any cost. An underlying aspect of the oral phase is the inability to tolerate frustration or cope with stress. A baby in the oral phase doesn’t have the capacity to cope with frustration, anxiety, and emotions. All they know is get comfort orally (e.g., mother’s breast, pacifier, biting, eating).

For a baby, nursing on the mother’s breast is the greatest comfort. Healthy development is the progression of receiving comfort from the mother (e.g., nursing), to self-comfort (e.g., pacifier, thumb-sucking), and to more advance mechanisms (e.g., crying and soothing self, verbally expressing feelings, etc.). As you progress, you become more independent and psychologically strong.

With that in mind, it doesn’t take much imagination to understand the gratification received from smoking a cigarette. A smoker literally takes a puff and receives gratification. However, the gratification received is short-lived and, more importantly, unhealthy. I'm not comparing smokers to babies, but smoking is infantile within the context of Freud's theory.

Think about it, the vast majority of smokers use cigarettes when increased stress levels are combined with an inability to cope in a healthy manner. In these moments, gratification is a decrease in stress/anxiety/emotionality. For some, a cigarette provides that instantly. The same logic can be applied to overeaters, alcoholics, or any other population struggling with addiction.   

So if you want to stop smoking, it’s not about avoiding cigarettes. It’s about delaying instant gratification, recognizing the frustration of delayed gratification, finding effective coping strategies to manage frustration and anxiety, and then being consistent. When effective coping strategies are in place, you will get gratification in a healthy way.

If that sounds impossible, trying sucking your thumb instead of smoking that cigarette the next time you feel the urge. Just might work :)

As usual, feel free to share this post via facebook, twitter, etc. Comments are welcomed!

If you are interested in being notified of future posts, you can “like” The Family Center of Knoxville facebook group by clicking here. Thanks for your support!

13 Comments
Mona Abukhaled
9/24/2013 10:22:14 am

This is great, interesting comparison.

Reply
tfcknoxville
9/25/2013 11:05:32 am

Thanks. Just trying to provide a different perspective, Get to the root of the cause...

Thanks for your comment.

Reply
Kath link
8/18/2014 12:34:43 am

It worked for me but now I suck my thumb unconsciously...in public! :(

Reply
tfcknoxville
8/22/2014 01:18:14 pm

Congrats on your success. Sounds like you have to transform the unconscious into the conscious!

Reply
Kath
8/22/2014 10:04:25 pm

Maybe, but if making it more conscious would hinder thumb sucking I'm afraid I may resort to smoking again. If anyone comments I just tell them I'm "trying to stop smoking" and most seem to think that's OK, though some people (it's a VERY few that even notice) just give me a look like something is wrong with me.

I wonder how effective this would be in general. Frankly, I'm a bit amazed.

Kath
8/22/2014 10:04:41 pm

Maybe, but if making it more conscious would hinder thumb sucking I'm afraid I may resort to smoking again. If anyone comments I just tell them I'm "trying to stop smoking" and most seem to think that's OK, though some people (it's a VERY few that even notice) just give me a look like something is wrong with me.

I wonder how effective this would be in general. Frankly, I'm a bit amazed.

tfcknoxville
8/23/2014 01:56:57 pm

Progress is progress, so congrats again on stopping your smoking habit. Whether it's smoking or sucking your thumb, there is a process. Reflect on how you feel when you have the urge and go from there. If you can identify how you feel and why, then you'll get even stronger in managing that need.

How'd you go from smoking to sucking your thumb?

Reply
Kath
8/24/2014 02:20:08 am

I agree. Thumb sucking, at least for me, is progress away from smoking. The feel is similar to an itch you want to scratch, or a thirst needing water. I have managed it at certain times but chose not to at other times. For instance, smoking or sucking my thumb while at work either isn't allowed or isn't as soothing, due to the social implications, etc.

I simply reawakened an old habit and found it assuaged the need even better than smoking did. There are times that smoking isn't allowed. During those times I found my hand going to my face. It didn't take long before I was biting my thumb and then sucking it. It felt totally calming and instantly.

Reply
Kath
8/24/2014 02:22:31 am

As an afterthought. I never got my teeth fixed and, perhaps, the fact that my mouth is still shaped from my thumb aided the comfort I feel from the habit.

Reply
tfcknoxville
8/24/2014 04:47:26 am

So you are already aware of the itch or the feeling of thirst. That's half the battle in that you've identified the physical manifestations of what you are experiencing due to some sort of emotional discomfort or stress (anxiety, possibly). at a psychological level (possibly).

So next time you can try to catch yourself and say I'm feeling this itch or need for thirst quenching because you are actually itchy or thirsty (ha) or because you may be experiencing some sort of emotion and it's been normal to assuage the need.

Try just being with that experience and seeing if you can feel that moment pass by. Maybe trying drinking water from a straw :)

Thanks for sharing your experience thus far.

Reply
Hugh Mungous
4/15/2017 08:21:14 pm

This is fucking stupid. Freud was a hack.

Reply
discreet vape pen link
9/3/2018 09:45:13 am

E-Cigarettes and Vaping are not for everyone. Feelings of Depersonalization and Extreme Anxiety are often the result of using these E-Cigarettes. Learn about the dangers of using these products and how to maintain a clear mind and calm body. Make choices based upon knowledge, before using a product that could create difficulties in both mind and body.

Reply
MckinneyVia link
5/22/2022 11:11:08 pm

Thank you for sharing informative content. It means a lot to me hope you do more articles to post.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Salmaan Toor is a licensed clinical psychologist practicing in Knoxville, TN.

    Archives

    November 2016
    February 2016
    December 2015
    September 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013

    Categories

    All
    Answer
    Child Psychologist
    Clinical Commentary
    Clinical Psychologist
    Depression
    General
    Kids
    Knoxville
    Love
    Marriage
    Parenting
    Premarital Counseling
    Question
    Relationships
    Salmaan Toor
    Teens
    Therapy
    World

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.