According to statistics and anecdotal evidence, people who are depressed have a tendency to succumb to smoking as well. In some circles, it is believed that the more depressed a person is, the more likely that person is going to smoke. If the person is already smoking when the onset of depression arrives, then the person's habit is simply going to get worse. In some cases, it is believed that depression and smoking combines to turn something that was originally a habit into a full-blown psychological and physical addiction. This becomes apparent when the person attempts to ?kick the habit,? where they suffer from unpredictable mood swings and symptoms of withdrawal. This problem likely stems from the regular ?doses? of nicotine that the body gets, which cause the body to react abnormally if deprived of it.



Smokers who try to quit often go through a wide range of negative physical and psychological reactions that are eerily similar to signs that someone is going through withdrawal of a narcotic substance. One particularly poignant reaction noted by observers is that depression develops quite rapidly in smokers who quit their habit. It has also been observed to become much worse if the person was depressed before he started smoking. Initially, it was believed that the chemicals in cigarette smoke were just acting on the body the same way a narcotic substance would, but that was never established as medical fact. For years, medical science has not entirely been sure why this was happening, but recent research seems to suggest that there might be something in cigarette smoke that is acting as an antidepressant.

Analysis of previous statistics seem to reflect that, with a large number of depression patients being smokers. It has also been long suspected that a number of smokers began smoking after experiencing a bout with depression, though this theory has never been studied or tested. Worth noting is a statistic that showed that people who experienced a major bout with depression while in a program designed to wean them off smoking were more likely to go back than those who didn't. According to the most recent findings related to this, 28% of people who became depressed while quitting were more likely go resume the habit, compared to only 14% for those who didn't.

Nicotine is the best known and also the most prevalent substance in cigarettes, but it is not the only one. There are thousands of other compounds and substances that can be found in the typical cigarette, and any one of them could potentially have antidepressant effects. Tests have been implemented to find out just which of them is having this effect, if any of them are, but the sheer number of them can make such endeavors a long process. This is assuming that the theory that something in cigarettes is an antidepressant is an accurate one. However, if it is accurate, then smoking may be a means for the depressed to self-medicate, even if this is only done on a subconscious level.

Testing may also have to be conducted in light of a new drug which is marketed under the brand name Bupropion. The drug is designed to help smokers get off the habit, but has also been found to have antidepressant effects. If the above theory about cigarettes alleviating depression is correct, then in theory, users of Bupropion ought to be less likely to go back to hold habits. However, this is not taking certain factors, such as stress and peer pressure, into the equation.