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Updated: Apr 1, 2026

Reducing State Anxiety Using Working Memory Maintenance
Published on: July 19, 2017
Does successful smoking cessation reduce anxious arousal among treatment-seeking smokers?
Samantha G Farris1, Nicholas P Allan2, Patricia C Morales3
1University of Houston, Department of Psychology, 126 Fred J. Heyne Building, Suite 104, Houston, TX 77204, USA.
Introduction:
There is limited work that has examined the effect of quitting smoking on anxious arousal, an underlying dimension of anxiety symptoms and psychopathology.
Method:
Smokers (n=185, 54.1% female) enrolled in a smoking cessation treatment trial were monitored post-cessation in terms of abstinence status (biochemically verified; at Weeks 1, 2, and Month 1 post-quit) and severity of panic-relevant symptoms (self-reported; at Month 1 and 3 post-quit). Structural equation models were conducted, adjusting for participant sex, age, treatment condition, and pre-cessation nicotine dependence, presence of depressive/anxiety disorders, anxious arousal, and anxiety sensitivity.
Results:
After adjusting for covariates, participants who remained abstinent for one month (n=80; 43.2%) relative to those who did not (n=105; 56.8%) demonstrated significant reductions in anxious arousal at Month 1 (β=-.26, p=.04) and Month 3 post-quit (β=-.36, p=.006); abstinence status had a non-significant effect on anxious arousal severity at Month 3 after controlling for Month 1 anxious arousal (β=-.18, p=.09).
Discussion:
Findings align with theoretical models of smoking-anxiety interplay and suggest that smoking cessation can result in reductions in anxious arousal.
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