--- title: E-Cigarettes Linked to Depression, Anxiety description: A new study finds elevated rates of depression, anxiety and other mental disorders among users of e-cigarettes canonical: https://time.com/97414/the-weird-link-between-e-cigarettes-and-mental-health-disorders/ author: Dan Kedmey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-05-13T14:38:11.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T07:48:08.633Z article:section: Health og:title: E-Cigarettes Linked to Depression, Anxiety og:description: A new study finds elevated rates of depression, anxiety and other mental disorders among users of e-cigarettes og:url: https://time.com/97414/the-weird-link-between-e-cigarettes-and-mental-health-disorders/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc9b2f3b31227f4f0/69868f1135ba6f6f4ac01f79/181801250.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4615 og:image:height: 2596 og:image:alt: US-HEALTH-TOBACCO-E CIGARETTE og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: E-Cigarettes Linked to Depression, Anxiety twitter:description: A new study finds elevated rates of depression, anxiety and other mental disorders among users of e-cigarettes twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc9b2f3b31227f4f0/69868f1135ba6f6f4ac01f79/181801250.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Weird Link Between E-Cigarettes and Mental Health Disorders > Sponsored content. 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Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators.  by [Dan Kedmey](https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey May 13, 2014 2:38 PM UTC  This September 25, 2013 photo illustration taken in Washington, DC, shows a woman smoking a "Blu" e-cigarette (electronical cigarette). This September 25, 2013 photo illustration taken in Washington, DC, shows a woman smoking a "Blu" e-cigarette (electronical cigarette).PAUL J. RICHARDS—AFP/Getty Images  by [Dan Kedmey](https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey May 13, 2014 2:38 PM UTC A new [study](http://www.eurekalert.org/pub%5Freleases/2014-05/uoc--eam050914.php) has found that people suffering from depression, anxiety and other mental disorders are more than twice as likely to spark up an e-cigarette and three times as likely to “vape” regularly than those without a history of mental issues. Researchers at the University of California, San Diego drew their [findings](http://www.eurekalert.org/pub%5Freleases/2014-05/uoc--eam050914.php) from an extensive survey of American smoking habits. Among 10,041 respondents, 14.8% of individuals suffering from mental health disorders said they had tried an e-cigarette, compared with 6.6% of individuals who had no self-reported history of mental disorders. The e-smokers’ elevated rates of mental disorders reflected the elevated rates of mental illness among smokers in general. The authors note that by some estimates, people suffering from mental disorders buy upwards of 50 percent of cigarettes sold in the U.S. annually. Many respondents said they switched to e-cigarettes as a gateway to quitting. The FDA has not yet approved e-cigarettes as a quitting aide. “People with mental health conditions have largely been forgotten in the war on smoking,” study author Sharon Cummins said in a university press release. “But because they are high consumers of cigarettes, they have the most to gain or lose from the e-cigarette phenomenon.” The study will run in the May 13 issue of _Tobacco Control_. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/97414/the-weird-link-between-e-cigarettes-and-mental-health-disorders/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/97414/the-weird-link-between-e-cigarettes-and-mental-health-disorders/"},"headline":"The Weird Link Between E-Cigarettes and Mental Health Disorders","datePublished":"2014-05-13T14:38:11.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T07:48:08.633Z","description":"A new study finds elevated rates of depression, anxiety and other mental disorders among users of e-cigarettes","url":"https://time.com/97414/the-weird-link-between-e-cigarettes-and-mental-health-disorders/","keywords":["Smoking","Depression","Mental Health","Anxiety","E-Cigarettes","Vaping"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc9b2f3b31227f4f0/69868f1135ba6f6f4ac01f79/181801250.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Dan Kedmey","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc9b2f3b31227f4f0/69868f1135ba6f6f4ac01f79/181801250.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-HEALTH-TOBACCO-E CIGARETTE","caption":"US-HEALTH-TOBACCO-E CIGARETTE","creditText":"PAUL J. 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