...it has been suggested that smoking may contribute to the development and maintenance of anxiety disorders through nicotine's modulation of fear memory and emotion processing.13 Effects of smoking on monoaminergic and glutamatergic systems, oxidative stress, and inflammatory and neurotrophic processes have also been hypothesized to contribute to the neuropathological mechanisms involved in the progression of bipolar disorder.14 Smoking causes brain changes on its own that may affect psychiatric symptoms With regards to neuropsychological function, short-term administration of nicotine has positive effects on aspects of cognition, including learning, memory and attention in healthy individuals,15-17 as well as in patients with schizophrenia, Alzheimer disease or ADHD.15,16 In contrast, chronic tobacco smoking has been shown to be associated with deficits in cognitive function, prominently verbal memory and processing speed, in middle-aged to elderly adults.16,17 Structural neuroimaging studies indicate that chronic tobacco smoking is associated with cortical thinning and size decreases in various brain structures.