Elevated Positive Mood: A Mixed Blessing for Abstinence

• Published in: Psychology of addictive behaviors 2006-03, Vol.20 (1), p.36-43
• Main Authors: Doran, Neal, Spring, Bonnie, Borrelli, Belinda, McChargue, Dennis, Hitsman, Brian, Niaura, Raymond, Hedeker, Donald
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Addictive behaviors; Adolescent; Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Affect; Aged; Behavior therapy. Cognitive therapy; Biological and medical sciences; Cessation; Desintoxication. Drug withdrawal; Double-Blind Method; Drug Abstinence; Drug Therapy; Emotional States; Female; Fluoxetine; Fluoxetine - therapeutic use; Human; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Neuropharmacology; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Placebos; Positive affect; Psychoanaleptics: cns stimulant, antidepressant agent, nootropic agent, mood stabilizer..., (alzheimer disease); Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Psychopharmacology; Serotonin Uptake Inhibitors - therapeutic use; Smoking; Smoking - therapy; Smoking Cessation; Smoking Cessation - methods; Tobacco Smoking; Treatments
• ISSN: 0893-164X; 1939-1501
• DOI: 10.1037/0893-164X.20.1.36

The present study, a secondary analysis of published data ( B. Hitsman et al., 1999 ), assessed (a) the influence of initial positive mood (PM) on smoking cessation and (b) whether smokers low in PM benefited from fluoxetine versus placebo for cessation. Euthymic adult smokers ( N = 103) received 10 weeks of cessation treatment. Analyses showed a Time × PM interaction, indicating that higher baseline PM predicted decreased abstinence during treatment but increased abstinence afterward, mediated by time to dropout. Dichotomous initial PM interacted with drug, suggesting a benefit of fluoxetine for low-PM smokers. Results indicate that lower pretreatment PM may inhibit long-term cessation. Smokers with lower baseline PM may benefit from treatment that increases PM.