Ankara Metropolitan Municipality Health Affairs Department continues its work without slowing down in order to raise public awareness and support in the fight against addiction.
SMOKING QUITTING SESSIONS HAVE STARTED
Department of Health Affairs, in cooperation with Lokman Hekim University, Prof. Dr. Smoking Cessation Sessions started under the leadership of Zehra ARIKAN.
In the sessions carried out by doctors and psychologists who are experts in their fields, interviews are held one-on-one with the clients. A client who wants to quit smoking is first measured with a carbon monoxide device and the amount of carbon monoxide in his body is determined. The client is told about the damage to his lungs as a result of cigarette poisoning. Citizens who attend the sessions are first tried to quit smoking by applying behavioral therapies. If no results are obtained after therapy, the person is started on medication.
MUSTAFA ÜNSAL: “MILLIONS OF PEOPLE LOSE THEIR LIVES DUE TO SMOKING EVERY YEAR IN THE WORLD”
Drawing attention to the harms of smoking, Ankara Metropolitan Municipality Health Affairs Department Head Mustafa Ünsal stated that they have very serious studies on addiction and said: “According to the reports of narcotics units, we established Addiction Combat Counseling Centers in 7 risky districts in Ankara. There are two main branches of the fight against addiction. One of these is behavioral addiction and the other is substance addiction. Tobacco addiction has the biggest place among substance addictions. Every year, millions of people around the world die due to smoking. Smoking causes over 200 diseases. Unfortunately, the number of smokers in our country is quite high. There is a 28% smoking rate. This equates to approximately 17-18 million people. We opened a smoking cessation clinic so that both our employees and people can get rid of this smoking addiction. Today, February 9, is World No Tobacco Day. We are working with our physicians at Lokman Hekim University to manage our work successfully on this meaningful day. We want all our citizens to support this campaign. And I hope it will be a successful work.” dedicate.
PROF. DR. ARIKAN: “ADDICTION IS A DISEASE THAT CAN BE STOPPED”
Prof. is the founding teacher of Özgür Köy Treatment and Rehabilitation Center, which was established in cooperation with Ankara Metropolitan Municipality and Lokman Hekim University. Dr. Zehra Arıkan said about the session process: “We direct clients who will go to therapy to drug-free treatment. Some require medication. When necessary, we work to help people stop nicotine addiction by giving them appropriate medications. We follow up once a week for an average of one month. If they can come here, they come. If they cannot come, we treat them over the phone. We have an average follow-up of 3 months here. We also perform respiratory function tests. Clients also visually see the improvement in respiratory function tests after quitting smoking. We also have replacement treatments for them if they have problems with smoking. Because when it is stopped, people sometimes experience symptoms such as distress, restlessness, anxiety, headache, and lack of attention. We treat them. After that, we do behavioral cognitive therapies on how they will live without nicotine, how their life will be without nicotine.” she said.
Pointing out that cigarette addiction is an addiction that people can quit on their own if they want, he said:
“If they have never smoked the substance when they quit, we call them full recovery, full emission, after one year. Those who have passed that one year are also candidates for the second, third and fourth years, but as it is known, addiction is a disease that can be stopped. If they start again, this time they cannot start less. They continue where they left off. It is increasing very quickly. Our aim is to inform them and show them how to live without smoking, how to be satisfied with themselves, and how to turn to other activities with our behavioral therapies.” dedicate.
Expert Clinical Psychologist Orhan Özel said the following about Addiction Fighting Centers:
“We established an anti-addiction center at 7 points determined on the risk map of Ankara. "In our centers, we offer smoking cessation services with both drug treatment and behavioral therapy methods, accompanied by our clinical psychologists, with our teachers from Lokman Hekim University."
GREAT INTEREST IN THE SESSIONS
More than a thousand applications were received in the first 15 days for the smoking cessation sessions, which started at the Dikmen Branch of the Addiction Fighting Center on January 10. All clients who applied for the sessions were included in the planning process. In the project, where one-on-one interviews were held with 95 people in the first month, 10 people quit smoking completely, while the treatment of the other clients continues.
Clients who attended Smoking Cessation Sessions expressed their satisfaction with the following words:
-Songül Küçük: “I started treatment. It's been 15 days. I was smoking a pack of cigarettes a day. I left it, thank God. I am very pleased."
-Yağız Kağan Özar: “I've seen this place before and thought why not try it? Smoking is now something that reduces the quality of life. Seeing this place ignited a spark to get rid of this. I came, I talked and everything is going well now. I'm trying to quit. Psychological counselors, teachers, professor doctors help. “We talked about my smoking history and what to do to quit.”
