'Chippers' Challenge Concepts Of Smoking Addiction : NPR
I am not so lucky. When I smoked, I kept open packs of cigarettes along with a lighter and ashtray in stratigic locations throughout the house. I'm more like the people discussed in the following articles.
I don't care for the word "addicted" because it is judgmental. I have the will-power to do without nicotine. I have done so in the past. But when I make that choice, I sacrifice my cognitive and emotional health.
I consider myself "medically dependant" on nicotine. I could switch my dependancy to a chemical soup of anti-depressants, anti-anxety medication, an ADHD treatment such as Ritalin, and a medication for memory impairment such as Aricept. I believe that nicotine (absent the hazards found in tobacco smoke) carries a much lower risk of adverse effects than such a combination.
Here are some articles on depression, anxiety, and other conditions as they relate to nicotine. In one of these, Glassman talks about a study he conducted where 9 people had such serious relapses in their depression they were advised to go back to smoking! Five subjects were receiving the treatment (clonidine) and 4 were receiving placebo.
Nicotine Addiction and Other Psychiatric Disorders - Psychiatric Times
February 1, 2001
Psychiatric Times. Vol. 18 No. 2
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Nicotine Addiction and Other Psychiatric Disorders"
Tony P. George, M.D., and Jennifer C. Vessicchio, M.S.W.
Amering M, Bankier B, Berger P et al. (1999), Panic disorder and cigarette smoking behavior. Compr Psychiatry 40(1):35-38.
Anda RF, Williamson DF, Escobedo LG et al. (1990), Depression and the dynamics of smoking. A national perspective. JAMA 264(12):1541-1545
Glassman AH (1993), Cigarette smoking: implications for psychiatric illness. Am J Psychiatry 150(4):546-553
Glassman AH, Helzer JE, Covey LS et al. (1990), Smoking, smoking cessation, and major depression. JAMA 264(12):1546-1549
Gonzalez-Pinto A, Gutierrez M, Ezcurra J et al. (1998), Tobacco smoking and bipolar disorder. J Clin Psychiatry 59(5):225-228.