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Smoking

Nicotine Addiction

Reviewed by Psychology Today Staff

Cigarette smoking is highly addictive-and it’s responsible for more than 480,000 deaths in the United States each year, including 41,000 from second-hand smoke, according to the CDC. That makes tobacco the single largest preventable cause of death and disease in the U.S. Worldwide, about 7 million deaths each year are due to tobacco use.

Smoking is associated with cancer, heart disease, stroke, gum disease, asthma and other chronic lung conditions, and Type-2 diabetes. About 14 percent of U.S. adults smoked cigarettes in 2017, according to the CDC, and it was recently estimated that nearly 7 in 10 wanted to stop smoking.

People with depression, anxiety, and other forms of mental illness are much more likely to smoke than the general population. While smoking may be used, in part, as a coping behavior, it is not a valid treatment for any mental health condition.

For more on causes, symptoms, and treatments of nicotine addiction, see our Diagnosis Dictionary.

Contents

The Causes and Consequences of Smoking

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An addiction to nicotine, also known as nicotine dependence or tobacco dependence, often begins in the teen years. Most people who smoke have friends or family members who also smoke. The younger a person is when he or she starts to smoke, the higher the risk of becoming addicted to nicotine, a drug found in tobacco.

In the short term, nicotine may distract from unpleasant feelings. Once smokers become dependent on nicotine, however, they experience physical and mental withdrawal symptoms that last for days or weeks, making it very difficult to quit. Many people who are addicted to nicotine continue to smoke even though they know it's bad for their health.

Why do young adults start smoking?

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Although we are decades past the promotion of cigarettes as a personality enhancer or a weight loss aid, some young people are still beginning to smoke cigarettes. Research suggests that college students who smoke are more likely to believe the behavior provides emotional benefits and enhanced body image than non-smokers, perhaps driven by media portrayals of young, sexy women who smoke. They also tend to underestimate the harms of smoking. Both reasons may help fuel the decision to begin smoking or prevent them from trying to quit.

How does someone’s social life contribute to smoking?

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Nicotine is so addictive due to its chemical effects on the brain, but it may also be hard to give up from a social perspective. Around one-third of all cigarettes are smoked in social situations, research suggests, and many smokers are more likely to smoke when they see others smoke; they report that socializing is a key reason for smoking.

Perhaps most interestingly, nicotine may also help boost someone’s social skills. In a recent study, participants described themselves as being friendlier, more extroverted, and less socially anxious after ingesting nicotine, and nicotine use improved awareness of social and facial cues compared to participants who had abstained from nicotine for the past day or longer. The social function of smoking may help explain why it’s so addicting, and why it’s so hard to quit.

What does nicotine do to the brain?

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Nicotine is what makes cigarettes so addicting. Nicotine acts on acetylcholine receptors in the brain, which help to control attention and memory. Nicotine also boosts levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine and the hormone adrenaline. Eventually the brain becomes accustomed to these changes, so when people attempt to stop smoking, they can experience symptoms of withdrawal such as cravings, headaches, dizziness, anxiety, and irritability.

How does smoking affect mental health?

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People with mental health conditions have unusually high smoking rates. Smoking can seem to boost mental health in the short term, temporarily stabilizing mood, but it can be harmful in the long term by exacerbating stress, anxiety, and depression. Re

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