People who are dependent on alcohol are also likely to smoke cigarettes. Many experts believe that it's important to counsel alcohol-dependent individuals to give up smoking as well as drinking not just to improve their health, but also to increase their chances of staying sober, reports the June 2008 issue of the Harvard Mental Health Letter.
It is a universal fear that attempting to quit smoking and drinking at one fell swoop will undermine treatment for alcohol dependence.
You should be aware, however, that most studies have shown that attempts to quit smoking have either no impact on sustaining abstinence or actually increases the success of alcohol treatment.
Currently there is no smoking cessation strategy exclusively for alcohol-dependent adults. For now, the wisest choice is to follow the federal guidelines for treating tobacco addiction, which advocates a combination of counseling and medication.
A major and still unresolved question is whether it's better to give up smoking and drinking together, or whether it's better to tackle one addiction at a time.
Researchers have found that when smoking cessation support was delayed by six months, study participants were more likely to remain sober compared with those who received concurrent treatment for both addictions. But a follow-up analysis found that this may have been true only for white people in the study.
Dr. Michael Miller, editor in chief of the Harvard Mental Health Letter, observes that no single approach is best for every person struggling with both alcohol and nicotine addiction. Whether an individual quits smoking during alcohol treatment or later, it's a net health gain.