The Effectiveness of Subliminal Presentation of Substance-Related and Smoking-Related Pictures on Beliefs about Substance Use, Craving Beliefs and Craving

The present study aimed to investigate the effect of subliminal presentation of substance-related and smoking-related pictures on craving beliefs, beliefs about substance use and craving. The research method was quasi-experimental with pretest-posttest design and control group. Statistical population of the research included male substance users referring to Rasht addiction treatment clinics (district two) in 2017. Among them, a sample of 100 substance users were selected by convenience sampling and were placed into experimental (n=50) and control groups (n=50). Participants completed the Craving Beliefs Questionnaire (Wright, 1993), the Beliefs about Substance Use Scale (Wright, 1993), and the Brief Substance Craving Scale (Somoza et al, 1995). After administering pre-test, substance-related (Ekhtiari et al, 2010) and smoking-related pictures (Khazaal et al., 2012) were presented to the experimental group as subliminal, while the control group was exposed to colored neutral subliminal pictures. The data were analyzed by analysis of covariance. Results showed the increase of craving beliefs and craving in post-test after adjusting for pre-test scores. While there was no significant difference between two groups regarding beliefs about substance use. Considering the significant effect of subliminal presentation of substance-related and smoking-related pictures on craving beliefs and craving, the subliminal presentation can be used in clinical settings in substance-dependent individuals.