Therapy helps some kick habit after heart attack

"Cognitive behavioral therapy appears to help people who are depressed after suffering a heart attack to avoid smoking cigarettes, but only if they believe they have adequate social support, new research shows. The findings suggest that most smokers will need more than CBT alone to give up the habit after a heart attack, but they also underscore the value of this therapy in treating depression in people with heart disease, Dr. Mickey Trockel of the Stanford University School of Medicine and colleagues report. After a heart attack, smokers can substantially reduce their risk of dying if they quit, the researchers note in their study, published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine. But people with heart disease frequently suffer from depression, which can make kicking the habit more difficult" - Reuters