Dr. Daniel Seidman

In a recently published piece in the New York Times on April 30, 2012, the artist David Kramer offers a self-portrait as a smoker. He says: "Of all the vices I have overindulged in, smoking is the only one I will admit has an addictive spell over me."...

For many smokers, the decision to quit involves overcoming enslavement to the familiar to risk change. Making this decision has been described as finding "a clear, unified motivation... to replace the old with a better, new way of life."[1] Reaching a "decision to quit" is a pivotal moment, activating smokers...

Most smokers who want to quit smoking don't realize that if they combine two forms of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), their chances for success are vastly increased. In fact, a combined NRT approach is the best of the medical options available for helping them. Under this treatment, one...

People change when they truly believe the change will make their lives better. For smokers, it's the promise of something better on the other side of no longer smoking that motivates them after they snuff out that last cigarette. That said, as another "Great American Smokeout Day" arrives, let's look...

First, the good news: The 46 million people (20.6 percent of all adults) who smoke in the U.S. are now outnumbered by former smokers. Between 1965 and 2004, smoking rates dropped by more than half, from 42.4 percent to 20.9 percent. About a month ago, New...

The larger, more graphic warnings that were announced today for cigarette packages can help raise the health literacy of smokers. And learning more about the specific health consequences of smoking influences many smokers to consider quitting.

Smokers generally know that smoking is bad for their health...

May was stroke awareness month. Dr. Olajide Williams, my colleague and friend at Columbia University Medical Center, has been a great teacher about the importance of recognizing stroke symptoms quickly. Getting the person to a stroke center as fast as humanly possible to receive the latest highly effective treatments can...

In his memoir, "Life," Keith Richards of Rolling Stones -- and drug-taking fame -- puts together a compelling retelling of his life story, lurid details and all. His honesty is rare in our age; he applies the same observant gaze toward himself as he does in his frank...

There is a long history of the cigarette industry selling health. Early advertisements showed physicians, dentists, nurses, scientists and researchers all explaining how it was safer to smoke some new kind of cigarette (see my website for a history of cigarette ads). Early cigarettes were promoted to cure...

The positive news about longevity in New York City shows that smokers want to and can quit (there were 350,000 less smokers in 2009 than in 2002). This has had a significant and measurable impact on life expectancy. Smoking is contagious and you can't overestimate the impact of...

Most of the images we have of smoking are social, such as after a meal, or having fun with friends. In fact though, "secret smoking" is a new kind of part-time smoking which is increasingly common on the current scene. The public health community has succeeded so well in convincing...

Just slap on a nicotine patch and stop smoking. Right? Well, not exactly. See the video that goes with this piece called Smoke-Free in 30 Days: The Program

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DmlBbebFOQ

Based on my twenty years of...

What is it about men that makes them think that asking for help seems like a weakness, not a strength? It seems like a matter of pride to rely on oneself for many men, and self-reliance is clearly seen as a strength, not a weakness. So how do we know...

The third Thursday of November is the Great American Smokeout, a tradition started by the American Cancer Society on November 18, 1976. This year I want to mark the occasion by telling a personal story about smoking, and two very special friends of mine.

For many years I went on...

Medicare is finally legitimizing smoking cessation counseling by underwriting up to eight counseling sessions per year for smokers who are struggling to quit. This benefit is regardless of whether smokers are already ill from tobacco use or not. The naysayer's response is "what a waste," declaring that only physical approaches...

It starts with awareness of the problem, for example, a desire to quit smoking and the inability to do so. In a recent published study, we tested whether the Internet can be harnessed as a tool to change behavior (Annals of Behavioral Medicine, Volume 39, Issue 1, 2010, Page 48)....

The impulse to chain smoke, drink too much, overeat, overspend, or take too many prescription medications is part of a larger cultural problem. As a society, we are uncomfortable being uncomfortable. It is as if we have become so consumer-oriented that we believe we can switch our moods as easily...

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) almost half (43%) of the people over the age of 20 who suffer with depression are also smokers. This confirms what clinicians who work to help smokers quit have long seen firsthand. The smoking rate for people with depression...

Smoking as a public health issue has been around for half a century. We have significantly reduced the rate of smoking, over half the US population is covered by laws which make it difficult to smoke in public, and 2 out of 3 Americans no longer allow smoking in their...

Dear President Obama,

People talk about the power of cigarettes, how hard they are to give up, but they don't talk about what really makes them powerful, which is the most interesting part. While we know a lot about how to reliably help people quit, most smokers still struggle (often...