Adults with Mental Illness Smoke One-Third of Cigarettes in U.S.

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Mariss716

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Adults with Mental Illness Smoke One-Third of Cigarettes in U.S. | Psych Central News

Interesting...

People with mental disorders are 70 percent more likely to smoke cigarettes than those without mental illness, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.“Many people with mental illness are at greater risk of dying early from smoking than of dying from their mental health conditions,” said Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, director of the CDC.
The agencies reveal that one of every three adults with mental illness smokes, compared with one in five adults without mental illness.
In fact, adults with mental illness smoke about one-third of all the cigarettes in the United States, and they smoke more cigarettes per month and are far less likely to quit than those without mental illness, according to the report. Nearly 46 million U.S. adults could be diagnosed with a mental illness in any given year — about one-fifth of the population.
The report is based on information from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, in which 138,000 adults were interviewed in their homes between 2009 and 2011. Participants were asked 14 questions to assess psychological distress and disability, and they were considered to have mental illness if their answers indicated a mental, behavior or emotional disorder in the past 12 months.
Substance abuse or developmental disorders were not considered mental illness. The report did not include patients in psychiatric hospitals or individuals serving in the military.
People who reported smoking all or part of a cigarette in the previous 30 days were counted as smokers.
The study suggested several possible reasons why smoking among the mentally ill remains high, including marketing by the tobacco industry and the historical use of cigarettes as an incentive to improve behavior in psychiatric hospitals.
“There are some effects of nicotine which can mask some of the negative effects of mental illness,” Frieden said.
The study said that smoking can also make some medications less effective, which may then lead the person with mental illness to smoke more to quell symptoms. And it said that people with mental illness, many of whom struggle to live a financially and socially stable life, may be less able to cope with withdrawal symptoms from quitting cigarettes.
Source: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
 

subversive

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The report is based on information from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, in which 138,000 adults were interviewed in their homes between 2009 and 2011. Participants were asked 14 questions to assess psychological distress and disability, and they were considered to have mental illness if their answers indicated a mental, behavior or emotional disorder in the past 12 months........

.......People who reported smoking all or part of a cigarette in the previous 30 days were counted as smokers.
.....the historical use of cigarettes as an incentive to improve behavior in psychiatric hospitals.
.......“There are some effects of nicotine which can mask some of the negative effects of mental illness,” Frieden said.


I have heard this before, and I am sure there is truth to it; however, here are some points I would like to make. Asking people questions in a survey is not the same as a clinical diagnosis of a mental illness. Likewise, considering someone who had a few drags off a cigarette in the past 30 days a smoker isn't the most accurate definition of smoking in my opinion.

I don't know about historical use, but psychiatric hospitals allow smoke breaks every couple of hours. I don't think it's an incentive for good behavior; I think it's because they know that the people in their care are going through a very rough time, and it is not the time to cram smoking cessation down their throats. A person in a deep depression isn't an unruly child. Not fact, of course, just my perspective.

Nicotine masks mental illness? Would they same the same for Prozac? Or are they simply unwilling to concede that nicotine has some benefits?
 
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Nicotine masks mental illness? Would they same the same for Prozac? Or are they simply unwilling to concede that nicotine has some benefits?

They're unwilling to concede that. Scientifically, that's not completely invalid at this point, but as soon as enough studies line up with positive results of nicotine on mood, it'll become utterly invalid.

Many mental illnesses are lifelong chronic diseases. We simply don't know how to cure those that are biological in nature. Any medication prescribed does treat the disease...by removing the symptoms. The disease is still technically there.
 

subversive

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Many mental illnesses are lifelong chronic diseases. We simply don't know how to cure those that are biological in nature. Any medication prescribed does treat the disease...by removing the symptoms. The disease is still technically there.

That's my point. Giving someone pharmaceutical drugs could also be said to be masking symptoms.
 

subversive

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A connection was recently made with white bread & murder. They found that 95% of murderers consumed white bread. Just saying.

I do think there is truth to the link between mental illness and smoking because nicotine can help with concentration and depression; I just didn't like how the article stated things. There's another article around here somewhere about schizophrenic patients and e-cigs, and another about benefits in the elderly who suffer from dementia and Parkinson's.
 

budynbuick

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I do think there is truth to the link between mental illness and smoking because nicotine can help with concentration and depression; I just didn't like how the article stated things. There's another article around here somewhere about schizophrenic patients and e-cigs, and another about benefits in the elderly who suffer from dementia and Parkinson's.

LOL. That's why I posted that silly white bread connection. One can make a connection with 'almost anything'. In my personal dealing with mentally challenged people I have found that for the most part,they tend 'not' to smoke. It also depends where they get their stats & how genuine they are. Stats can be manipulated to men just about anything. are they saying smokers are crazy,or are crazy people smokers?
 

oxygen thief

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I'm bipolar and spent 4 days in a locked ward in 2009. As soon as I walked in they offered patches and gum at the nurses station. I said no and I've found that being in that situation I didn't want a cig. Nobody had smoking privileges.
In the past psychiatrists used cigs as a reward for patients with schizophrenia. Nicotine works on dopamine and the reward pleasure centers in the brain.
Psych drugs don't mask mental illness, they treat it. Just like an inhaler doesn't mask asthma it treats it. Just like insulin doesn't mask diabetes it treats it. Just like a friend who recently broke her leg, they use different casts as she gets better. They don't mask her broken leg, they help it along. Fortunately broken bones heal. Most psych disorders are a lifetime sentence. Unless you're counting mild to moderate depression which should be treated with CBT.
 

Centurion

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The shrinks have an ever-changing definition set for what they consider is mental illness and things move onto and off of that list based upon everything from multimillion dollar lobbying efforts by special interest groups to shifting views on morality from one generation to the next. I suppose scientific discoveries are one other, probably lesser contributing factor, in their list making.

Smoking itself is an obvious compulsion with negative social effects and health effects and economic effects yet the people keep doing it because it's addictive. What is an addiction (a so-called medical disorder currently) could also be just as accurately described as a compulsion.
 

Peggy-o

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I do think there is truth to the link between mental illness and smoking because nicotine can help with concentration and depression; I just didn't like how the article stated things. There's another article around here somewhere about schizophrenic patients and e-cigs, and another about benefits in the elderly who suffer from dementia and Parkinson's.

I think (don't have a study handy, but I know I've read it before somewhere, I know, what a nice scientific mind I got there ^^ ) That cigarettes are actually pretty depressant, maybe it's due to the lack of oxygen in the blood though, I don't think nicotine is the cause. But nicotine helps with focus, that much is true in my experience. Good for adhd, and lack of focus in autism just like coffee :p (and cola.)
 

Peggy-o

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This doesn't make sense. If people with mental illness are 70% more likely to smoke, and smoke 1/3 of all cigarettes, that means that roughly 1/4 of all people are mentally ill.

That's just some rough math off the top of my head, but it doesn't add up.
It doesn't seem impossible to me, it all depends what you consider to be a mental illness, I know some people would consider autism to be a mental disorder, that's already 1/88 people lol. If you add adhd, add, bipolar disorder, depression, you've got a bunch. Then you have PTSD, more and more people get diagnosed with it, and if you add personality disorders well... sociopaths are 1 in 100 people, narcissists: 0.5 to 1 percent.... I mean no, it doesn't sound THAT out there to say that 1 in 4 people have a mental disorder of some sort.
 

oxygen thief

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The shrinks have an ever-changing definition set for what they consider is mental illness and things move onto and off of that list based upon everything from multimillion dollar lobbying efforts by special interest groups to shifting views on morality from one generation to the next. I suppose scientific discoveries are one other, probably lesser contributing factor, in their list making.

Smoking itself is an obvious compulsion with negative social effects and health effects and economic effects yet the people keep doing it because it's addictive. What is an addiction (a so-called medical disorder currently) could also be just as accurately described as a compulsion.

The DSM V has very few changes from the old DSM IV. The psychiatrists I've had over the years have been very professional and cautious in diagnosing. The scientists conducting studies publish the bad with the good. When you're dealing with the brain you have the exact same problem oncologists do, not enough information. So, they go with what science has given them. Not too far in the future brain scans are going to be able to pinpoint diagnosis and narrow down medication protocols.
People generally love their oncologist but the general population hates psychiatry. But most know very little about it. And even more have no clue how many people are alive today because of their doctors. GP's and psychiatrists are among the lowest paid medical specialties yet people still become psychiatrists. I'm stupid enough to believe that they want to help. In my 30 years experience, I believe I'm right. Oh, I'm alive to write this, and that's pretty close to a miracle. If you only knew.
You know where a lot of the problem lies? The press. If it's bad, psychiatry or otherwise, it's everywhere. If it's good you never see it. Or in the words of TV news, if it bleeds it leads. Shame really.
 
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