Effect of brief imagery interventions on craving in college student smokers

Abstract

This study examined the comparative impact of three types of imagery interventions (olfactory, visual, and olfactory-plus-visual imagery) and a distracting cognitive task (serial sevens) on self-reported craving for cigarettes by 54 university students who had been smoking at least a pack of cigarettes per day for the past 3 to 6 months. Using the 10-item, self-report questionnaire of smoking urges, we assessed participants’ experience of craving prior to cue exposure, following 2 min of lab-based cue-exposure, during a 2 min imagery or distraction intervention, and immediately following the intervention. Reported craving during intervention was significantly lower in all three imagery conditions compared to the distracting cognitive task condition, but there was not a significant difference in craving among the imagery conditions. Despite explicit instructions to focus on the designated form(s) of imagery, a majority of participants in each of the imagery conditions also reported experiencing other forms of sensory imagery. Brief imagery interventions hold promise to interrupt, at least temporarily, cue-induced craving in daily smokers.