Tobacco Withdrawal Symptoms Before and After Nicotine Deprivation in Veteran Smokers with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and with Major Depressive Disorder.

Severe tobacco withdrawal may account for the higher quitting difficulties of smokers with either posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or major depressive disorder (MDD). Paradoxically, this study showed that individuals with no psychiatric diagnosis had greater increases in tobacco withdrawal severity because of nicotine deprivation than did those with either PTSD or MDD. Those with either PTSD or MDD showed high stable levels of withdrawal symptom severity both before and during two days of abstinence, suggesting that their quitting difficulties may be related to their chronically high levels of distress rather than nicotine deprivation per se.