Monday 4 October 2010

Vasopressin and Nicotine

As mentioned previously, nicotine lifts vasopressin levels and vasopressin is a hormone connected to bonding.   A need to smoke seems so often to be connected to interruption of the bond with the mother in childhood.  Traditionally tobacco was smoked by Native Americans to seal a covenant or treaty - again we have the bonding link.  Despite the problems associated with it, nicotine is a kind of medicine for grief - so in these times it is not surprising it is getting more popular, expecially amongst women.  People give up smoking and get past withdrawal symptoms and addiciton, only to return to it because of this hormonal need.    What the solutions are i'm not sure, apart from the fact that grief is eventually healed by staying aware of the feelings in the body.  Also when people become more closely connected to a particular other human or to other humans in general the need to use nicotine often lessens.  It's good to understand a little more of what makes us, as humans, behave the way we do.

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