Thinking and/or doing as strategies for resisting smoking

The effects of behavioral strategies and cognitive strategies, individually or in combination, on the likelihood of lapsing during smoking cessation were examined by random effects regression analyses of 1,499 temptations reported by 61 smokers during the first 2 weeks of cessation. Compared to using no strategies, using either type exclusively or in combination was significantly protective from lapsing. The combination was not significantly better than using multiple cognitive strategies, but was superior to using a single behavioral strategy, a single cognitive strategy, or multiple behavioral strategies. Use of coping strategies during temptation episodes was highly related to resisting smoking. Maximum benefit accrued to using more than one strategy of which at least one was a cognitive strategy.