Would it bother you if your therapist smoked?

None of these answers apply to me.
It WOULD be a dealbreaker for me if I saw it or smelled it.
The smell of cigarette smoke/a smoker are big triggers for me. In fact, a girl recently joined group therapy, and I've yet to work up the courage to tell Group T that her smoking smell is really really triggering me (I don't want the girl to know this, though).

I'm not sure. When I was in residential there were some smoking social workers/nurses, and I didn't think less of them for that.

However, if my current T or pdoc were to start smoking or say they smoke.. I guess I would feel weird, because I really can't see them smoking. Maybe I'd also feel betrayed, because I've been seeing them for 4 and 3 years respectively and to only now find out..
Also, as they are the ones who actually treat me and try to convince me to make healthy choices, I'm not sure how serious I would be able to take that if they smoked. But maybe that wouldn't be the case.

For a new T, it would probably depend on the whole picture. A bad therapist I might complain about their smoking, and a good one I might not mind.
It sounds really silly, but things work like that sometimes.. I am a survivor of medical torture. When I was inpatient, a fellow client asked me about my experiences with THAT facility because he might be getting a referral there.. I hadn't really started to dig up that trauma though, so when he asked how the people were, I complained about their inability to use our country's language correctly. Then I didn't know what else to say. A social worker sat at the same table and she said: "They also left you with a severe trauma, didn't they?" (or maybe she said: they also hurt you a lot, didn't they? or whatever her words were) which sort of was the light bulb for It's not the grammar mistakes that bother me.

I smoke, so it wouldn't bother me. In fact, my current T and my former T both admitted to smoking in the past. One even talked about how much she missed it. I am very good at hiding it though, and I have to KEEP reminding my T that I smoke when it comes up, because she never smells it on me. I am very careful not to smell like smoke in situations like that.

My response doesn't fit any of the above. I would not think less of them, but if I'm smelling smoke in the office I'm not inclined to continue therapy there. They can do what they want but smoke really irritates my nose and lungs, so I'm not going to be around it.

I don't think I would be able to see a T who smoked. Honestly, I can't stand be around the smell.

I wouldn't care.

i've known many smokers in the past (some of them close friends)

life decision is what it comes down to in the end, and no one should be treated badly because of it

If I found out the first or second visit, I probably wouldn't go back. If I was attached, it would affect me, but I'd probably stay. However, I'd lose a lot of respect for a T who smokes. Aside from the questions it would bring up about my T's mental faculties, I'd be worried that my T would develop cancer, or even just be more susceptible to respiratory infections. The worry about this really wouldn't help my anxiety, and I think I would grow to resent my T. Sure we all have our vices, but I just wouldn't have much confidence in a T who is actively engaged in a really harmful addiction and who had no intention of stopping.

The fact that they smoked wouldn't make me judge them. The smell would bother me though. I'm ok with a therapist not being in perfect control of everything. I kind of like that my doctor is a little bit on the overweight side. I think it makes her more empathetic to other people's problems. It was funny when I saw her in the grocery store once with a cart full of soda after she had been telling me how bad it was for me. Made me laugh, but I didn't say anything to her.

My first T smoked because during one session I saw the lighter. My second T smoked too because I saw him doing it outside his house/office! I dont know about my current T, she doesn't seem the type, but I dont mind if a T smokes, I never minded with my previous ones. I only asked myself questions like "I wonder if they are addicted, if they smoke when they are nervous? I wonder when they started, and how many times they smoke" Im just really curious. I think I would see them as more humans, with imperfections, for me it's a positive thing not because of the smoke since it's bad, but because I can see they are imperfect, they aren't that "far" from me, they are humans!

Its really not my business what they do with their free time or what they're addicted to as long as they're not involving it with my sessions or trying to push it on me. Why should i care what they do? Its their life and i should really stay in my own lane.

Yeah I mean the way said friend knew that the therapist smoked was that he could smell it. She didn't say anything about it and he certainly didn't see her smoking. Whether someone smokes with any regularity is usually very evident to a non-smoker because of how they smell. After a certain age, you can often hear it in their voice, too.

So for me, thinking less of someone is kind of judgy which i admit is unfair—we're all human, it's a powerful addiction, I used to smoke, smoking is a proxy for social class etc. yes I know— but also I find the smell makes me feel unwell, gives me a headache, makes my eyes itch. So the office would likely feel unwelcoming to me.

it wouldn't bother me necessarily, but i would not be a fan of it. my mom smoked throughout my childhood and i HATED it. she never smelled of smoke amazingly, and she only smoked outside and not in any car, but i can't stand the smell of lingering smoke on anyone.

When I miss my mother, I get some menthol cigarettes and a little bottle of her perfume and I find the combined smell comforting.

yeah, i weirdly don't mind the smell of an active smoker. not breathing in my face or anything, but probably because i smelled that all my life.

I wouldn’t see a T who smoked. As others have said, I CANT STAND the smell. Additionally, I would question their judgment about not taking care of their health and not being able to control an addition. I also wouldn’t date someone who smoked and I don’t have any friends who smoke. In fact, I don’t know a single person who smokes. It’s not common at all where I live.

Yes but o my because he preaches on being healthy.

Also, right now I accept that she's always late because I know she runs over with just about all clients. If she were a smoker, I'd probably feel resentful and think she's late because she was having a cigarette.
I might also be afraid of them resenting me for getting between them and their cigarette if I run over, ask them to call me etc.

And would they be paying their full attention to me, or thinking about their next cigarette? Maybe even trying to finish the session two minutes early?

I mean, my pdoc and I have appointments of an hour. We often speak for about 45 minutes (and sometimes for up to 75, if there's a lot to talk about and he has time). If there's nothing left to talk about, we finish up. I leave as satisfied then as when we take the full 60 minutes, or when we go over time. If we finish early and he went for a smoke or I considered he might, I might wonder if finishing up early was on purpose. Did he rush the session in the hopes that ..? Did he maybe not pay attention to something I said-did-showed because ..?

I'm not sure if I would actually think that, but I might. If I feel someone considers me a bother, I'll try not to be bothersome - often at my own expense.

I have never smoked but I don’t mind the smell, unless it’s super-stale. I actually find the smell of a lit cigarette kind of pleasant- it reminds me a beloved relative who died when I was a small child, as well as nights out in another country I used to live in, where people smoked a lot. I don’t think I’d care if my therapist smoked- I kind of suspect he smokes pot occasionally, and this doesn’t trouble me either.

I smoke, and I have never rushed a meeting or phone call or paid half attention because I had cigarettes on the brain.

I can’t imagine that people actually think and behave that way. I certainly don’t, and don’t know anyone who does...

Seems a bit extreme to me TBH

Like I can imagine a heroin addict fixated on their next hit (I work at a rehab) but somehow I find it hard to believe cigarette smokers in that same boat...

Just my two cents...

I've read some stuff on heroin versus nicotine and nicotine wasn't very friendly. (Compare illegal drugs to alcohol and you're REALLY shocked) So I guess I just am afraid that addiction is addiction.

On the other had, I imagine there's quite a difference between looking forward to your next cigarette and looking forward to your next 'hit. I mean, a cig is legal and generally accepted, and you can but them everywhere. So you don't really have to worry about getting it, which would mean you can just think 'I'd like a cigarette' and not 'I want heroin, how do I get heroin?/Where and when can I take my next hit?/What if someone finds the powder in my pocket?'
And I also think people addicted to 'extreme drugs' generally have more issues and therefore need the drugs more, than people addicted to nicotine. (I don't mind people, including T's, having issues. As long as they don't negatively impact the therapy of course.) Like, people seem to often get addicted to nicotine through peer pressure, and to heroin and alcohol and stuff because they want to forget. I think: I'm no expert.
I mean with my first example, that most self-harmers I know say they think a lot less about it when they have an object in their pocket. If they don't, they'll think about getting an object.

I have to say I’m completely baffled by some of the responses here. It almost seems like smoking is being equated with child pornography the way people react to the idea of their therapist smoking. This is not a judgment, simply an observation. This is truly fascinating.

I think this is a cultural thing because in Europe smoking is not seen that way at all. Lots of people smoke. Half of my colleagues smoke for instance: they regularly take a « cigarette break » that is they go outside to smoke.
It was the same when I was in university: the majority of students smoked.
Same when I was in high school where half of my class would smoke (which is concerning obviously).

Yes it’s bad for your health but tons of things are bad for your health (drinking heavily, eating junk food, etc.) and who knows how many therapists engage in those behaviours?

I personally hate cigarettes. I smoked twice (just to know what it was all about) and I had to lie down because my head was spinning and I was close to fainting. I find the taste absolutely disgusting. Before the smoking ban in Western European countries (around 2008-2010) it was a nightmare for me to get into a club/bar or even a restaurant because of all the smoking. I would come out reeking of cigarette smell and I would have to put my clothes in the washing machine to get rid of it.

Anyway all this to say that while I understand hating the smell, I personally don’t care what therapists do outside of my session. If they want to smoke ten packs of cigarettes every day this is their life and I simply don’t care.
I don’t consider them role models for me to emulate.
Anyway interesting debate!

Hahaha! It's totally a cultural thing. Smoking in Canada has become quite stigmatized in certain socio-economic groups. Especially past age 30 or so. Not quite akin to kiddie porn but not all that far off either. I think it's because most other vices just affect the person engaging in them, but subjecting others to second-hand smoke is considered the height of rudeness, to the point of being considered anti-social behaviour. It's also illegal in most public settings.

So a therapist smoking (where I live) is engaging in behaviour that's pretty atypical for their social class. It's also (almost) like not having worked through any other addiction: worrying in what it says about their own mental health and fitness to practice on others.

I realize this is extreme and culturally loaded! That's why I was curious enough to ask the question...

I have had therapists who smoked. I have family members who smoke. My mom died from smoking. I am not sure what to think.

I smoked for 35 years and then quit cold turkey in the summer of 2015. Even though I had no symptoms I asked for a bunch of tests including eventually a chest xray and was diagnosed after quitting smoking with lung cancer in my early 50s.

If I had a long standing therapist who smoked I would have made my peace with it but dont' think I could take a new therapist who smoked. I never liked the smell of stale cigarettes and their addiction would be something that weighed on my mind. I also don't think I could go to a morbidly obese therapist or someone who I thought had another drug or alcohol addiction.

I had a smoker T who had a sexy raspy voice but I left with my clothes smelling awful, even though she didn't actively smoke during session. She was so good that I put up with it!