Study: Therapy can help smokers quit, even if they don't want to

"What we found is if you treat smoking like other health conditions and diseases like high blood pressure and diabetes, you're more likely to be successful," says lead author Anne Joseph, a physician and director of the University of Minnesota's applied clinical research program. "With blood pressure, you'll give medication to get near target goals, change diet and lifestyle and keep monitoring."

Too often physicians do not do enough to help smokers who relapse, she says: "We often view relapse as failure and need to build in interim goals until success is achieved."   Read More