Effects of Subliminal Stimulation of Symbiotic Merging Fantasies on Behavioral Treatment of Smokers

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Abstract
The subliminal psychodynamic activation method was used to enhance the efficacy of a behavior therapy approach to smoking cessation. Human subjects [34] received a 3 wk, group-oriented, multicomponent behavior therapy package aimed at smoking cessation. Subjects were randomly assigned to experimental or control groups. The experimental group received the subliminal message "mommy and I are one" and the control group the message "people are walking". At 4 wk post-treatment, the abstinence rate for the experimentals was 67% and 12.5% for the controls. At 12 wk follow-up, 44% of the experimentals and 12.5% of the controls were abstinent. A .chi.2 analysis revealed a statistisically significant difference between groups at 4 but not 12 wk. A multiple analysis of covariance was used to analyze percentage of baseline smoking at both follow-up points. A significant main effect for treatment and for time emerged along with an interaction between treatment and time. The subliminally exposed message differentially effected the post-treatment smoking behavior of the experimental group. The results were interpreted as evidence for a transference phenomena explanation for the effectiveness of the behavioral treatment program.

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