Behavioral treatment of caffeinism: reducing excessive coffee drinking.
Paying adults to shave caffeine intake week-by-week cuts coffee use two-thirds and the drop sticks.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Three adults who drank too much coffee joined a self-help plan.
Each person set a weekly caffeine limit that dropped step-by-step.
They logged every cup and earned small cash for hitting the weekly goal.
What they found
Coffee drinking fell by two-thirds and stayed down ten months later.
The step-wise goals and money kept the change going without extra coaching.
How this fits with other research
Wolitzky-Taylor et al. (2022) used a similar step plan to cut rumination in adults.
Schuster et al. (2025) also paid teens to quit cannabis and saw small gains.
Strumwasser (1994) looks like a clash: caffeine re-entry raised ward disturbance in adults with ID. The difference is population. The 1979 study worked with cognitively able adults who could self-monitor; the 1994 participants could not, so caffeine hit them harder.
Ohta (1987) found no classroom change when preschoolers got caffeine. Again, age and setting matter; kids metabolize caffeine faster and the dose was smaller.
Why it matters
You can copy the changing-criterion plus cash package for any adult who wants to cut a habit. Start with one week of self-monitoring, then drop the limit by 10% each week and pay a small bonus for meeting it. No clinic space needed; the learner runs the program.
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Join Free →Have the learner set this week’s coffee cap one cup below last week’s count and pick a $5 self-reward for meeting it.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
Excessive coffee drinking can have deleterious effects because of the large amounts of caffeine that are ingested. Caffeine is thought to be addicting, and prolonged and excessive use can lead to caffeinism, a condition that has serious behavioral and physiological side effects. The present study developed and evaluated a treatment program to reduce excessive daily coffee drinking to moderate and presumably safer levels. Three habitual coffee drinkers received individualized changing criterion programs that systematically and gradually reduced their daily caffeine intake. The coffee drinkers were required to self-monitor and plot their daily intake of caffeine. They received monetary prizes for not exceeding the treatment phase criteria and forfeited a portion of their pretreatment deposit when they did. Their coffee drinking decreased from almost nine cups per day (over 1100 mg of caffeine) during baseline to less than three cups per day (less than 343 mg) at the end of treatment or a reduction of 69%. The treatment effect was maintained during a 10-month follow-up, averaging a 67% reduction from baseline. The program appears to be a reasonable method of reducing and then maintaining daily caffeine intake at less harmful levels.
Journal of applied behavior analysis, 1979 · doi:10.1901/jaba.1979.12-335