Why Depressed People Might Find It Difficult to Quit Smoking

Depression and nicotine use disorder often co-occur, possibly because depression increases how much negative mood, withdrawal from tobacco, and other triggers increase smoking “to cope.” To learn more, researchers conducted a two-session laboratory study of 29 adults who smoked >10 cigarettes daily and had a carbon monoxide (CO) reading of >10 parts per million. Nine participants had major depression.

Participants could smoke just before the first laboratory session (sated session) and were required to abstain for 6 hours before the second session (abstinence was CO-verified). Both sessions involved the previously validated tobacco choice task; participants were presented with a series of paired tobacco and food visual cues and were required…