I too have been struggling to quit smoking. I've been smoking about a pack a day since I was 17 - I'm 31 now. I've tried to quit many times in the past - usually either cold turkey or with the patch, once with Wellbutrin. It never lasted more than a couple of days, and then I'd have one, then another, on and on.

Lately I've been feeling the physical effects more than I ever have before, and my doctor told me she can hear signs of early lung disease. So I decided to try again.

My friend recommended this book to me called The Easy Way to Stop Smoking by Allen Carr. She read it and has been smoke-free for a month or so now.

I spent most of last Friday reading it. I found the book to be wonderful. It examines many of the excuses we give ourselves to continue smoking - to help us concentrate, to relax us, to ease boredom etc - and demonstrates why smoking helps us with none of these things in reality, and in fact helps us in no way. It gives us nothing, or at least nothing good.

Well, I finished the book that day and then smoked what I decided was my last cigarette ever. I was doing really good with it - I felt wonderful that I was now a non-smoker finally, I felt physically great - better than I had in a very long time. Then I smoked one Monday night, and then another Tuesday night, and then another an hour ago. And they all made me feel terrible, yet I still want another. Ugh...

I'm finding it difficult to maintain the positive frame of mind that I was in over the weekend, and that seems essential for this process. When my depression kicks in I become self-destructive, and I don't really care if x, y or z will hurt me, or make me feel worse than I already do. I fear that as long as I suffer from depression, I will always struggle with smoking. I dunno. Well, I just threw out that pack I've been holding onto since Monday night, and I'm still trying.

I'd still recommend the book to anyone trying to quit. It helped me way more than anything else ever has. It (obviously) really focuses on the psychological addiction and helps you overcome it without substitutions and urges you to celebrate the physical withdrawal symptoms, rather than dread them. Check it out.