From the author: The article was published on April 20, 2013 on my website: Smoking, no matter how people admonish smokers, in addition to harm, has benefits. Don’t be surprised! True, this benefit is more like a pacifier that is pushed into a baby’s mouth when there is no time, opportunity or desire to figure out and worry about how to calm the baby. So, a cigarette, in my opinion, is the same pacifier, playing the role of an anti-stress remedy and a means of communication. Moreover, each smoker has his own history of relationship with a cigarette. In some cases, it provides so many useful connections that no talk about harm can outweigh them! For example, one of my clients during the counseling process said that an important point is the possibility of petty revenge on a conflicting neighbor from below, who unfairly accuses a young man of that he throws garbage on his balcony. The client explained that by shaking the ash from a cigarette downwards, he seemed to be restoring justice. Another client lived in a cramped two-room apartment with eight other relatives, between whom there were constant conflicts and a “quiet” struggle for territory. The guy smoked in the toilet, despite the indignation of his relatives, this is how he reclaimed his space. If a large number of such “useful” moments-bindings are collected that are not analyzed at the level of consciousness, then it is almost impossible to part with a cigarette. That is why the horror stories drawn on the packages cannot compete with the desire to pick up a cigarette again! The smoking clients with whom I had the opportunity to work had from 15 to over 30 “benefits”, which were identified during a complex analysis during consultation. After identifying secondary benefits, or as I call them, binding motives, the smoker makes a decision whether to leave everything as it is or quit smoking once and for all. Quitting smoking completely requires further work, as a moment of awareness does not guarantee a change in habits and beliefs. With the latter, the situation is much more difficult. After all, giving up the desire to restore justice, even in such a clumsy way, is not so easy! It should be noted that the duration of work with tobacco addiction depends not so much on the length of smoking, but on the number of attachments-motives. If there is real motivation to change their behavior, the client continues in therapy until the result is achieved. Along the way, other difficult issues in life are also resolved, which previously did not receive the necessary resolution. So, everyone decides for themselves and gives themselves the attitude “You can’t smoke, quit!” or “You can’t quit smoking!"