Emotional disorders and smoking: Relations to quit attempts and cessation strategies among treatment-seeking smokers

The cross-sectional associations between lifetime emotional disorder status (anxiety/depressive disorders) among smokers in relation to historical quit processes were examined. Adult treatment-seeking daily cigarette smokers (n = 472) received structured psychiatric interviews and completed a survey that included in-depth questions on cessation history. Having a lifetime emotional disorder was significantly associated with a greater number of prior quit attempts and cessation strategies used, including increased use of both non-pharmacological and pharmacological quit methods. These smokers may still require complimentary specialty care to address their specific affective vulnerabilities given that their use of commonly-applied strategies did not result in lifetime abstinence.