Biomedical subjects
Thomas H Brandon
Publications and source records attributed to Thomas H Brandon.
It ain't over till it's over: the case for offering relapse-prevention interventions to former smokers.
Most people who attempt to quit tobacco smoking eventually relapse. Although treatment strategies have been developed to prevent smoking relapse, they tend to be available only to the small proportion of smokers who enroll in intensive smoking cessation treatments. It is argued that freestanding relapse-prevention interventions could be offered to persons who recently ceased smoking, whether they used a formal treatment program or quit on their own. A line of research is described demonstrating that a series of relapse-prevention booklets mailed to recent quitters significantly reduces smoking relapse. Moreover, the intervention seems to be highly cost-effective. If disseminated widely, such an approach has the potential to make a significant public health impact.
Effects of nicotine dose, instructional set, and outcome expectancies on the subjective effects of smoking in the presence of a stressor.
The balanced placebo design (BPD) was used to evaluate the independent effects of nicotine dose and smoking-related expectancies on self-reported anxiety, urge to smoke, and withdrawal symptoms. After anxious mood was induced, participants smoked either a de-nicotinized cigarette or one with standard nicotine content. Nicotine dose was crossed with instructions that the cigarette was either de-nicotinized or standard. Nicotine cigarettes produced greater anxiety reduction than de-nicotinized cigarettes. Nicotine instructions attenuated anxiety only among those who held relevant expectancies. Nicotine dose and instructional set interacted such that either nicotine cigarettes or instructions that the cigarettes contained nicotine were sufficient to reduce urge to smoke. Implications of these findings and methodological issues regarding use of the BPD with cigarettes are discussed.
Do desirability ratings moderate the validity of probability ratings on the Smoking Consequences Questionnaire-Adult? A reanalysis using regression.
Smokers' responses to the Smoking Consequences Questionnaire-Adult (A. L. Copeland, T. H. Brandon, & E. P. Quinn, 1995) were used to determine whether smoking outcome expectancies are moderated by subjective evaluations (desirability ratings) in their effect on smoking-related variables. Hierarchical regression in a reanalysis of data from A. L. Copeland et al. indicated that the product of probability and desirability ratings accounted for a significant amount of variance in smoking rate, nicotine dependence, saliva cotinine, and posttreatment smoking status above that accounted for by probability and desirability ratings alone. Results indicate that desirability ratings serve as moderators to probability ratings in explaining current smoking, nicotine dependence, and continued smoking. Effects were modest in magnitude but suggest that it may be important to address subjective evaluations of outcomes in smoking cessation and relapse prevention efforts.
Effects of extinction context and retrieval cues on alcohol cue reactivity among nonalcoholic drinkers.
Pavlovian conditioning models have influenced the development of cue exposure treatments for drug abuse. However, poor maintenance of extinction performance (renewal) after treatment is a common problem. A treatment-analogue experiment tested the role of context in renewal, as well as a potential strategy for reducing renewal. Seventy-eight social drinkers completed extinction trials to reduce saliva and urge reactivity to alcohol cues and were randomly assigned to a renewal test in either the same context as extinction, a different context, or the different context containing a cue from the extinction context (E-cue). As predicted, the different context produced greater renewal than the same context and renewal was attenuated when the E-cue was present. These results offer preliminary evidence for the context dependence of extinction to alcohol cues and for the use of an extinction cue to improve the generalizability of exposure therapies.
The increasing power of placebos in trials of antidepressants.
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