Brian Hitsman, PhD

Staff Psychologist, 
The Miriam Hospital

Assistant Professor (Research) 
Dept. of Psychiatry & Human Behavior
Brown Medical School 

Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine
Coro Building, Suite 500
One Hoppin Street
Providence, Rhode Island 02903
Phone: (401) 793-8018
Email: Brian_Hitsman@Brown.edu
Fax: (401) 793-8078

Brian Hitsman Ph.D. is assistant professor of psychiatry and human behavior (research) at Brown Medical School and staff psychologist at The Miriam Hospital. He received his B.S. in psychology from Alma College and M.S. and Ph.D. in clinical psychology (health psychology) from Finch University of Health Sciences/The Chicago Medical School. Hitsman completed his psychology internship at Brown University's Clinical Psychology Training Consortium and post-doctoral fellowship in the Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Center at Brown Medical School in 2004. He's been a member of the Brown faculty since July, 2004.

Hitsman's program of research, which spans genetic epidemiologic, human laboratory, and treatment studies, has focused on understanding the psychological and neurobehavioral mechanisms underlying the development and maintenance of smoking and nicotine dependence and responsivity to smoking cessation treatment in people with and without co-occurring psychopathology (depression, schizophrenia, PTSD). 

• Contributor, Surgeon General's Report entitled How Tobacco Causes Disease - The Biology and Behavioral Basis for Tobacco-Attributable Disease, 2006
• Invited Member, National Institute of Mental Health Workgroup on Tobacco and Psychiatric Disorders, Sept. 2005
• National Institutes of Health Clinical Loan Repayment Program, National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2005-2007
• Mentored Clinical Scientist Development Award, National Institute on Drug Abuse, NIH, 2004-2009
• Dean's Award for Outstanding Performance in Clinical Psychology, Finch University of Health Sciences, The Chicago Medical School, 1999
• National Research Service Award, National Institute on Drug Abuse, NIH, 1998-2002

Selected Invited Presentations:

• Smoking Cessation Treatment in Patients with Depression: Outcomes, Relapse Vulnerability Factors, and Targeted Interventions; 19^th Congress of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology, Paris, France. To be presented Sept. 2006
• Depression, Depressive Symptoms, and Smoking Cessation; Neuroscience Center, National Institute of Mental Health, Rockville, MD; Sept. 2005.
• Serotonin, Nicotine Dependence, and Depression; Psychopharmacology Seminar, Psychopharmacology Unit, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Bristol, Bristol, England; July 2005.
• Serotonergic Involvement in Nicotine Dependence; Research Seminar, Brown University Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies, Providence RI; Feb. 2005.
• The Future of Pharmacotherapy for Smoking Cessation; Brown Pulmonary Research Seminar, Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Rhode Island; Hospital, Brown Medical School, Providence RI; March 2004.

Decision Making in Depressive Smokers
Brian Hitsman, Ph.D. (PI)

This research tests the hypothesis that nicotine dependence and depression are linked, in part, by impairments in brain reward functioning. In this ongoing project, various groups of depression vulnerable individuals are being compared on reward-related learning, motivational, and behavioral decision-making.

Neurobehavioral Regulation of Cigarette Cravings and Smoking Topography in Depression Vulnerable Smokers
Brian Hitsman, Ph.D. (PI)

This NIDA-funded program of research explores neurobiological mechanisms associated with cue-induced cigarette craving and smoking behavior among smokers vulnerability to mood disorders. In separate double-blind, placebo-controlled laboratory studies, tryptophan depletion and a-methyl-para-tyrosine are being used to examine the effects of serotonergic and catecholaminergic depletion on craving, mood, and smoking topography.

Assessment of Smoking-Related Obsessions and Compulsions
Brian Hitsman, Ph.D. (PI)

The aim of this project is to develop a questionnaire to measure obsessional craving for cigarettes and compulsions to smoke. Data have been collected on over 250 smokers and validity and reliability has been established. A modified version of this scale (Obsessive Compulsive Smoking Scale) recently has been developed and evaluated for use in neurobiological challenge studies to examine hypotheses related to neurotransmitter regulation of "obsessive" craving and "compulsive" smoking behavior.

Munaf, M.R., & Hitsman, B.  (in press). Neurocircuitry of attentional processes in addictive behaviours. In M.R. Munaf & I. Albery (Eds.), Cognition and Addiction. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.

Spring, B., Hitsman, B., Pingitore, R., McChargue, D.E., Gunnarsdottir, D., Corsica, J., Pergadia, M., Doran, N., Kessler, K., Crayton, J.W., Baruah, S., & Hedeker, D.  (in press). Effect of tryptophan depletion on smokers with and without a history of major depression.  Biological Psychiatry. 

Koenen, K.C., Hitsman, B., Lyons, M.J., Stroud, L., Niaura, R., McCaffery, J., Goldberg, J., Eisen, S.A., True, W., Tsuang, M.  (2006).  Post-traumatic stress disorder and late-onset smoking in the Vietnam Era Twin Registry. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 74, 186-190.

Hitsman, B., Spring, B., Wolf, W., Pingitore, R., Crayton, J.W., Hedeker, D. (2005). Effects of acute tryptophan depletion on negative symptoms and smoking topography in nicotine dependent schizophrenics and non-psychiatric controls. Neuropsychopharmacology, 30, 640-648.

Koenen, K.C., Hitsman, B., Lyons, M.J., Niaura, R., McCaffery, J., Goldberg, J., Eisen, S.A., & Tsuang, M. (2005). A twin registry study of the relationship between posttraumatic stress disorder and nicotine dependence in men. Archives of General Psychiatry, 62, 1258-1265.

Hitsman, B., Borrelli, B., McChargue, D.E., Spring, B., & Niaura, R. (2003). History of depression and smoking cessation outcome: A meta-analysis. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 71, 657-663.

Hitsman, B., Abrams, D.B., Shadel, W.G., Niaura, R., & Borrelli, B., Emmons, K., Brown, R., Swift, B., Monti, P., Rohsenow, D., & Colby, S. (2002). Depressive symptoms and readiness to quit smoking among cigarette smokers in outpatient alcohol treatment. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 16, 264-268. 

McChargue, D.E., Gulliver, S.B., & Hitsman, B. (2002). Would smokers with schizophrenia benefit from a more flexible approach to smoking treatment? Addiction, 97, 785-793.

Hitsman, B., Spring, B., Borrelli, B., Niaura, R., & Papandonatos, G.D. (2001). Influence of antidepressant pharmacotherapy on behavioral treatment adherence and smoking cessation outcome in a combined treatment involving fluoxetine. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, 9, 355-362. 

Hitsman, B., Pingitore, R., Spring, B., Mahableshwarkar, A., Mizes, J.S., Segraves, K.A., Kristeller, J.L., & Xu, W. (1999). Antidepressant pharmacotherapy helps some cigarette smokers more than others. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 67, 547-554.