A cross-sectional study of 131 patients with schizophrenia found that patients with mild-moderate dependence exhibited greater scores on the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (indicating how ill the patient was), and smokers with mild nicotine dependence had comparatively greater negative symptoms than nonsmokers with schizophrenia. 

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

The self-medicative theory suggests that smokers with schizophrenia try to alleviate their negative symptoms through nicotine – a substance which increases dopamine and glutamate levels in the prefrontal cortex. This would counteract the ways schizophrenia would neurologically affect these smokers. 

Self-Medicative Hypothesis

Ding JB, Hu K. Cigarette Smoking and Schizophrenia: Etiology, Clinical, Pharmacological, and Treatment Implications. Schizophr Res Treatment. 2021 Dec 13;2021:7698030. doi: 10.1155/2021/7698030. PMID: 34938579; PMCID: PMC8687814.



Cigarette Smoking and Schizophrenia: Etiology, Clinical, Pharmacological, and Treatment Implications


Arguments Against the Self-Medicative Hypothesis

Those with psychiatric disorders comprise 44% of cigarette sales in the United States. Since the 1950s, researchers funded by the tobacco industry have been studying the connection between psychiatric illnesses and smoking. The self-medication theory was proposed in the 1980s by a tobacco-industry-affiliated researcher who claimed that nicotine may help people with schizophrenia in a “therapeutic” way. Some non-industry-affiliated researchers have contended that this self-medication hypothesis has promoted smoking to a vulnerable audience with psychiatric conditions. 

Learn Before

Related