Factors determining the success of nicotine withdrawal: 12-year follow-up of 532 smokers after suggestion therapy (by a faith healer).

In 1973, 532 heavy smokers with an average age of 38 years for the men and 34 years for the women were questioned prior to treatment by the faith healer Hermano, and requestioned 4 months, 1 year, 5 years, and 12 years after the therapeutic ritual. The average cigarette consumption of the men had been 31 per day and that of the women 24 per day. From the moment of treatment, 40% of the subjects remained nonsmokers (with no relapse) after 4 months, 32.5% after 1 year, 20% after 5 years, and 15.9% after 12 years. At the time of the 12-year follow-up, 37.5% of the subjects were nonsmokers, the majority of them having stopped smoking again after suffering a relapse. In order to investigate the factors determining the success of nicotine withdrawal, those subjects who for 12 years had uninterruptedly abstained from smoking (N = 73) were compared and contrasted with those who for 12 years had continued to smoke almost without interruption (N = 31). Personality factors, sociodemographic features, and characteristics of smoking behavior showed no demonstrable connection with the tendency to relapse. On the other hand, it did prove possible to explain 16% of the variance in the responses to treatment: in particular, high alcohol consumption, markedly addictive smoking, rare attendance at church, and the attitude that "you have to believe in the treatment" were found to be conducive to relapse and addiction.