Sunday, November 11, 2007

Why Quitting Smoking Is So Difficult

New findings clarify the brain mechanisms that explain many aspects of dependency on nicotine, the addictive substance in tobacco. Among them: Individual differences in brain chemistry can have a profound effect on a person's susceptibility to addiction, and smoking may predispose adolescents to mental disorders in adolescence and adulthood. In addition, researchers have identified a potential neural network that regulates the body's craving response and have demonstrated how smoking may affect decision-making.

"As the negative health consequences of smoking have become more and more obvious, the majority of smokers have attempted to quit," says Marina Picciotto, PhD, of Yale University. "Unfortunately, people who want to quit often find that they cannot, and recent neuroscience research has identified many of the molecular mechanisms that lead to nicotine addiction.

"It is notable that many who smoke cigarettes have affective disorders, and many who have affective disorders such as major depression also smoke cigarettes and find it much harder to quit. We need new treatments for smoking cessation based on neuroscientific evidence and we need to understand the interaction between smoking and affective disorders so we can target new therapies to people who have the hardest time quitting."

READ MORE @ SCIENCE DAILY