Smokers feel they lose their identity when they quit smoking, study says

It can be difficult to quit smoking, but according to a new study, ditching cigarettes for good is even harder because smokers feel they lose a sense of who they are.

Researchers from the University of East Anglia recently conducted a small study, published Monday in the Journal of Substance Use, to determine the mechanisms associated with relapsing.

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"Of course we know that smoking is physically addictive, and there has been research about the psychological side of it -- but this assumes that people are unable to resist physical urges, or are vulnerable to social cues," Dr. Caitlin Notley, lead researcher, said in a news release. "We wanted to understand other social factors that might also be important."

For the assessment, they examined 43 people who had quit smoking and relapsed. They interviewed the participants, asking them to describe their history of smoking, previous quit attempts, their current quit attempt and any smoking relapses.

“What we have found is that relapse is associated with a whole range of emotional triggers. It is often tied up with people wanting to recapture a lost social identity – their smoker identity,” Notley said.

“People want to feel part of a social group, and recover a sense of who they are – with smoking having been part of their identity, for most, since their teenage years,” Notley said. “When people attempt to quit smoking, what they are really doing is attempting to bury part of their old identity and reconfigure a new one. That can be hard. Particularly when it’s something that has been ‘part of them’ for most of their adult life.”

Researchers believe their findings suggest that identity needs further exploration. They hope to continue their investigations, so they can expand their theoretical approach and understand how identity is meaningful to individuals.

"Understanding this is a minimal requirement prior to supporting potential change," the authors said in the article. "If an effective relapse prevention intervention incorporating situated narrative identity formation can be developed, then implications are significant."

Cox Media Group