Nicotine fading as a nonaversive alternative in a broad-spectrum treatment for eliminating smoking

The present investigation assessed the effectiveness of nicotine fading as a non-aversive alternative to oversmoking. Subjects (66 women and 64 men) were randomly assigned to oversmoking, nicotine fading, nicotine fading/smokeholding, and a nonmaintenance control. Results failed to indicate the expected superiority of nicotine fading/maintenance over the control condition. Instead, the addition of smokeholding appeared to produce a significant incremental effect over nicotine fading alone. Unfortunately, 12-month follow-up revealed considerable relapse across conditions and no significant treatment effects. Even so, absolute outcome for nicotine fading/smokeholding was encouraging. This procedure is both safe and apparently very acceptable to subjects. If the current results can be replicated, a clinically effective technique will have been established with applicability in both clinic and self-help settings.