STOP SMOKING METAPHOR SCRIPT

Don't let one failure push you back to smoking

This is a stop smoking metaphor. Metaphor is an unusual therapy for smoking, but it can be very effective. People giving up smoking often show black and white thinking, that is; things are either perfect, or they are a total failure. Oftentimes smokers have no problems in the first week, or the first month, but then they start to feel the need again but they can still manage OK. Then some event happens outside their control and they immediately reach for the cigarette. The problem isn't the cigarette. It is that the person immediately thinks they are a failure, that it has all been pointless and they are back where they started.

Having one cigarette is not a failure

The fact is that they aren't - having one smoke is not a failure. It is simply a step on the road. This metaphor should be used in the stop smoking session as a sort of post hypnotic instruction, putting the idea in their mind that one slip is not a failure, and they can take a lesson from that one smoke and never do it again.

This metaphor reframes taking one smoke as being something that can be expected, unfortunate, but something to accept on the way to finally giving up smoking. Taking one smoke, does not mean that you have failed. You have inner resources that will get you through. The message for the smoker is that even if you fail on the way to your goal, you get to keep what you have achieved so far. You can give up smoking.

EXTRACT FROM STOP SMOKING RELAPSE METAPHOR