A friend of mine recently gave-up smoking and is currently going on two weeks without a puff. He has received advice to employ some distraction techniques to help him deal with the ‘cravings’.
I have two issues with this. Firstly, after two weeks, it is not strictly speaking cravings that he is facing. The nicotine has left his body and he is simply dealing with mental associations, not physical cravings. This may seem like a pedantic point, but I think it is significant.
Secondly, I’m not at all sure that the best way to deal with intermittent lingering desires for a cigarette is distraction. And Steven C. Hayes agrees with me. He refers to the use of ACT with those who are quitting smoking here.
And, if you can stand the excitement, check out the discussed researcher’s work below: