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Consider that she was addicted to nicotine, and she felt less anxious when she had nicotine. It's difficult to separate the "got what she was addicted to" from the "reduced anxiety."


She claimed that she smoked her first cigarette when she was feeling very anxious, and that it helped.

Also, she's never really been very addicted - she only smokes off and on.


No it's not difficult to separate the two. You test a bunch of people that have never smoked and see what the effects are.

I bet this has been done before.


It's difficult for someone who is self-reporting to do - if all you have is an anecdote. It's not difficult with good experimental design, which is part of my point.




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