Effects of Brief Training on Craving Regulation
Condition: Nicotine Addiction
MeSH terms: Tobacco Use Disorder
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      The investigators propose that brief training in regulation of craving may increase the
      efficacy of smoking cessation, but that training in cognitive vs. mindfulness-based
      strategies may operate via different psychological and neural mechanisms.
    

Detailed description: 
      The investigators propose to test the efficacy of such training by randomizing 126 cigarette
      smokers to the following conditions: 1) brief training in cognitive regulation of craving 2)
      mindfulness-based training, and 3) control or no training. Training will be delivered in 6x1
      hour computerized sessions over four weeks. Control subjects simply fill out assessments
      during their visits. Participants who were randomized into the cognitive or mindfulness
      training complete Regulation of Craving (ROC) training sessions of approximately 60-90
      minutes. If randomized into the cognitive regulation training, subjects will be trained to
      use a cognitive strategy that instructs them to think of all the negative outcomes associated
      with continued cigarette smoking. If randomized into the MBT-based regulation training,
      subjects will be trained to use a mindfulness strategy that instructs them to notice and
      accept their feelings of craving without judgment or intent to act upon them. After all
      training sessions are completed, there is a 4 week and 12 week follow-up. The investigators
      will evaluate the effects of training on craving and regulation of craving measured by
      self-report and functional magnetic resonance imaging during the Regulation of Craving(ROC)
      task administered pre- and post- treatment, as well as smoking.
    

Intervention name(s): Cognitive Regulation of Craving; Mindfulness-Based Regulation of Craving
Intervention type(s): Behavioral; Behavioral
Intervention description(s): Regulation strategy practice: Participants will be trained to use a CBT-based cognitive regulation strategy. They will be asked to think of their individualized negative consequences for and thing of them when they see the instruction "LATER" during the task. Participants will practice using this strategy for multiple cigarette stimuli. High-Risk Situation Practice: Participants will identify 10 situations in which they usually smoke, or are likely to smoke in the next 48 hours. For each situation, they will be asked to practice using the strategy and to plan to use this strategy to regulate craving in daily life.; Each training session in this condition will be identical to the CBT-based training session described, with the exception of the strategy being trained. Specifically, participants will be trained in using the MBT-based strategy ("notice craving and accept the feeling without judgment or reaction"). To do so, they will be asked to generate their own non- reactive responses to craving (e.g., "I can just sit here and notice this. I can ask myself, 'can I be ok with this feeling?'") Participants will then be instructed to think of those accepting and non-reactive responses when they see the instruction "ACCEPT" during the task. All other components will be identical.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Treatment