Positive Psychotherapy for Smoking Cessation: Treatment Development, Feasibility and Preliminary Results

Abstract

Low positive and high negative affect predict low rates of smoking abstinence among smokers making a quit attempt. Positive Psychotherapy can both increase positive affect and decrease negative affect and therefore may be a useful adjunct to behavioral smoking counseling. The purpose of the present study was to assess the feasibility and acceptability of a Positive Psychotherapy for Smoking Cessation (PPT-S) intervention that integrates standard smoking cessation counseling with nicotine patch and a package of positive psychology interventions. We delivered PPT-S to 19 smokers who were low in positive affect at baseline. Rates of session attendance and satisfaction with treatment were high, and most participants reported using and benefiting from the positive psychology interventions. Almost one-third of participants (31.6%) sustained smoking abstinence for 6 months after their quit date. Future studies to assess the relative efficacy of PPT-S compared to standard smoking cessation treatment are warranted.

Keywords: behavioral treatment; depressive symptoms; positive affect; positive psychotherapy; smoking; smoking cessation.

Figure 1

PANAS Scores over the 6 sessions of counseling and the 3 follow-ups. Error bars represent standard errors. PANAS = Positive Affect and Negative Affect Scales; NA= Negative Affect; PA=Positive Affect. Scores on each scale can range from 0 to 40.

Figure 2

CESD total scores and Positive Affect subscale scores over the 6 sessions of counseling and the 3 follow-ups. Error bars represent standard errors. CESD=Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Total scores can range from 0 to 60. Positive Affect scores are the item average for positive affect items on the CES-D and range from 0 to 3.