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Smoking may be self medicating for depression and at least one study suggests smoking lowers the risk of death for people who suffer depression. https://news.y

Smoking may be self medicating for depression and at least one study suggests smoking lowers the risk of death for people who suffer depression. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37923037 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37923037 Some drugs that treat depression have a side effect of causing a lot of people to stop smoking. Maybe someday we will understand depression well enough to effectively and reliably treat it. At least until then, blanket statements about smoking aren't really reasonable. I hate smoking. I have respiratory problems. I don't want people smoking around me. But nicotine is a morally neutral chemical that, like any chemical, can have constructive uses.

mplewis 3y ago
Smoking isn’t nicotine. When we talk about smoking, we’re talking about cigarette smoke.
- DoreenMichele 3y ago
  I realized that when I said it. It's a comment on a discussion forum, not a phd thesis. Sometimes it's not worth spending ten minutes trying to figure out the scientifically accurate phrasing to make a point knowing no matter how I phrase it, someone on HN will rip it to pieces and nitpick it to death and most people will care enormously about finding minor errors in my comment while largely ignoring the thrust of my main point. Posting on the internet is an exercise in frustration. HN used to be something of an oasis better than that. Not so much these days.
deemster 3y ago
>Smoking may be self medicating for depression and at least one study suggests smoking lowers the risk of death for people who suffer depression That's interesting because nicotine contains MAOI(monoamine oxidase inhibitors) compounds that are used treat depression.
- temp0826 3y ago
  Nicotine itself is not MAO inhibiting, other compounds in tobacco have this effect (which may be synergistic/potentiating the nicotine effects)
  - mtlmtlmtlmtl 3y ago
    Not may, it definitely does. There's a lot of research that shows the combination of harmala alkaloids and nicotine are a lot more addictive than either one alone.

mplewis 3y ago

Smoking isn’t nicotine. When we talk about smoking, we’re talking about cigarette smoke.

DoreenMichele 3y ago
I realized that when I said it. It's a comment on a discussion forum, not a phd thesis. Sometimes it's not worth spending ten minutes trying to figure out the scientifically accurate phrasing to make a point knowing no matter how I phrase it, someone on HN will rip it to pieces and nitpick it to death and most people will care enormously about finding minor errors in my comment while largely ignoring the thrust of my main point. Posting on the internet is an exercise in frustration. HN used to be something of an oasis better than that. Not so much these days.

deemster 3y ago

>Smoking may be self medicating for depression and at least one study suggests smoking lowers the risk of death for people who suffer depression That's interesting because nicotine contains MAOI(monoamine oxidase inhibitors) compounds that are used treat depression.

temp0826 3y ago
Nicotine itself is not MAO inhibiting, other compounds in tobacco have this effect (which may be synergistic/potentiating the nicotine effects)
- mtlmtlmtlmtl 3y ago
  Not may, it definitely does. There's a lot of research that shows the combination of harmala alkaloids and nicotine are a lot more addictive than either one alone.