CBT FOR SMOKING CESSATION

   

   

   

   

   

by Cynthia Conklin, Michele Levine, Kenneth Perkins

Published by Routledge at £17.95 (www.routledgementalhealth.com).  224+  pages. ISBN (978) 0415-95463-0.

The central goal of a therapist helping someone to quit smoking is to teach the smoker ways to prepare to quit, successfully abstain through self-monitoring and behavioural modifications, then to maintain this abstinence over a greater period of time. Cognitive behavioural therapy – CBT – has been shown to be effective in smoking cessation, ideal for people who want support beyond nicotine gum or pharmacology options.

Basic counselling strategies and interventions explained in this publication are fundamental tools established, researched and refined over the past decades. And this book goes one stage further, including a specific CBT model to address weight gain concerns in the smoker if they quit tobacco use.  All the authors are leading researchers in this area of intersection.

They build on the general CBT approach to smoking-cessation counselling by allowing practitioners to incorporate specifically tailored interventions, behaviour modifications and therapeutic strategies when working with clients worried about gaining weight.

In this single volume, the authors have provided a valuable guidebook to an empirically based CBT approach to smoking cessation. It is a refreshing new outlook on an age-old problem.

CAROLINE MORRIS MA is chief verifier for OCR for theHealth & Social Care Sutie of NVQs, incorporating Danos Drugs & Alcohol National Standards.