Criteria of a Pharmacologic Withdrawal Syndrome
Abstract
Abstract To the Editor.— Hughes and Hatsukami1 add significant findings to our knowledge of the syndrome that ensues when smokers stop smoking. As they suggest, this is very likely a nicotine withdrawal syndrome. Their analysis of alternative hypotheses, however, ignores an important possibility.If it is assumed that a person using a psychotropic drug for a long time was normal without that drug, then a behavioral disorder when the drug is stopped may well be a classic pharmacologic...