Elimination of cigarette smoking by punishment and self-management training

Abstract

Faradic shock punishment and self-management training were used in an attempt to eliminate cigarette smoking in two groups of subjects (23 total) who had smoked from four to 48 years and from 14 to 60 cigarettes per day. Group I received two weeks of post-treatment therapist monitoring while Group II received 11 weeks. Only one subject in each group failed to stop smoking during the course of aversion and self-management treatment and reduction to zero cigarettes per day occurred within four to five successive treatments. Post-treatment follow-ups at one, three, six and twelve months revealed longer cessation of smoking in the second group. Six of the eleven subjects in the second group were not smoking at the twelve month follow-up as compared to three of the twelve subjects in the first group. The results suggest that (1) faradic shock punishment combined with self-management training will for most subjects eliminate cigarette smoking, and (2) post-treatment therapist monitoring seems to be an important variable affecting long term cessation of smoking.