The effects of cigarette smoking on script-driven imagery in smokers with and without posttraumatic stress disorder

Abstract

The study investigated the effects of smoking a nicotinized or denicotinized cigarette on craving, affect and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms while recalling neutral, stressful and traumatic events in smokers with and without PTSD. Smokers completed laboratory sessions during which they were presented with audiotapes of personalized scripts followed by smoking a cigarette. The effect of the script and cigarette conditions on dependent variables was evaluated. There was a main effect of script type across groups for smoking craving, negative affect and PTSD symptoms, with increased symptoms in trauma and stressful conditions. Responses were significantly higher in PTSD smokers. Smoking either cigarette type resulted in decreased craving, negative affect and PTSD symptoms in both groups. A second script presentation following smoking elicited similar responses, suggesting the ameliorative effect of having smoked a cigarette was short-lived. These results support that context and non-pharmacologic effects of smoking are important variables in smoking craving and mood, particularly in smokers with PTSD.

Smoking and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptomatology in Orofacial Pain

“…Dichotomizing current smoking status limited our ability to investigate certain lines of inquiry; future studies of smoking and PTSD in orofacial pain populations would do well to use a valid measure of smoking or a nicotine dependence scale as a continuous variable. Our discussion of possible links among motivation to regulate affect, outcome expectancies, and the moderating impact of smoking on the relationship between PTSD symptom severity and affective distress appears to be consistent with our data and with the characteristics of smoking in PTSD as noted in previous studies (Beckham et al 2004;Beckham et al 2005;Beckham et al 2007;Cook et al 2007;Feldner et al 2007;Marshall et al 2008). However, no direct measures of smoking motives or expectancies were included in this study.…”

Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms and Cigarette Deprivation in the Prediction of Anxious Responding among Trauma-Exposed Smokers: A Laboratory Test

“…This finding is consistent with past work (Feldner et al, 2008). These results utilize a trauma-exposed sample with varying levels of posttraumatic stress (mostly without PTSD) to extend previous work, which demonstrated that smokers with PTSD compared with those without PTSD report more anxiety and smoking craving following both trauma-related and general stress scripts (Beckham et al, 2007). Furthermore, the observed difference with respect to the role of posttraumatic stress symptom severity and anxious arousal at Minutes 1-2, and in contrast to Minutes 3-4 of the challenge, may be due to an increasing perceived intensity of the challenge over time as well as limited statistical power as a function of the sample size.…”

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Smoking Cessation in Veteran Smokers

“…The association between PTSD symptoms and ad lib smoking in PTSD smokers (Beckham, Feldman, Vrana et al, in press) is consistent with previous laboratory findings in which exposure to trauma cues increased urges to smoke (Beckham, Dennis, McClernon et al, 2005;Beckham et al, 1996), as well as with a study showing that people suffer from smoking withdrawal symptoms consistent with their psychiatric symptomatology (Pomerleau et al, 2000). These findings suggest that at least in some psychiatric populations, smoking may represent a form of self-medication of their psychiatric symptoms (Kassel et al, 2003).…”