| The Tobacco Reference Guide |
| by David Moyer, MD. |
| Chapter 11 Other health problems |
| tobacco reference guideg (artefact pour |
| Other health problems: Depression and Psychiatric Problems |
| globalink (artefact pour saut de ligne) |
| Dr. Cynthia Pomerleau from the University of Michigan Substance Research Center |
| has evidence that many longtime smokers have an underlying psychiatric problem that |
| nicotine may help to ameliorate. Nicotine can either sedate or stimulate, helping a |
| person with anxiety to relax, but stimulate a depressed patient. The psychiatric |
| disorder can be unmasked or worsened by nicotine withdrawal, which leads to higher |
| relapse and lower successful quit rates. Different studies have shown (compared with |
| people with no psychiatric disorder) rates of nicotine dependence twice as high |
| among those with anxiety disorder as well as the diagnosis of attention deficit |
| hyperactivity disorder, and smoking rates three times as high among those with major |
| depression. |
| New York Times, August 27, 1997, p. C8 |
| tobacco reference guideg (artefact pour saut |
| History of daily smoking increases significantly (odds ratio 1.9) the risk for major |
| depression. |
| Archives of General Psychiatry 55:161, 1998 |
| tobacco reference guideg (artefact pour saut |
| Major depression is more common among smokers (6.6% versus 2.9%), and |
| smokers with a history of depression are less likely to have succeeded in smoking |
| cessation than were smokers without such a history (14% versus 28%). Depressed |
| smokers are 40% less likely to quit than non-depressed ones and they are more likely |
| to relapse. The overwhelming majority of alcoholics are smokers, and co-morbidity |
| with major depression is high. |
| American Journal of Psychiatry, April 1993, p. 547, and October 1993, p. 1547 |
| tobacco reference guideg (artefact pour saut |
| Smokers who have histories of major depression are only half as likely to be |
| successful long-term quitters as smokers without depression. Also, major depression |
| is much more common among smokers than nonsmokers. |
| Journal of the American Medical Women's Association, January 1996, p. 39 |
| tobacco reference guideg (artefact pour |
| Page 6 of 32 |
| globalink (artefact pour saut de ligne) |
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