Smoking and Serious Mental Illness?

I received an intriguing bit of information this morning from the Web MD newsletter concerning newly published research in the Lancet, a respected British medical journal.

The article "Smoking Linked to Schizophrenia" stated that smoking may be a risk factor in the development of that serious and persistent mental illness.

This was of particular interest to me for two reasons. First, as a professional hypnotist I help people let go of the smoking habit.  Second, prior to this career I was a case manager for over 10 years in an adult psychiatric rehabilitation program and the majority of the clients had a schizophrenia diagnosis.

The article notes that people with schizophrenia are far more likely to have a smoking habit than the general population. My past experience concurs with that. In fact, at one point  the facility I worked in decided to ban inside smoking because non-smoking staff were actually contracting smoking related illnesses from the noxious and ever present cloud of second hand smoke.

What was new information to me in the Web MD article was that a person receiving a first time diagnosis of schizophrenia is 3 times more likely to be a smoker than someone who isn't.

The researchers suspect that the tobacco habit increases the activity of the neurotransmitter dopamine, which is implicated in the development of schizophrenia.

This really gives credence to the idea that we should use whatever means necessary to deter younger people from developing the smoking habit since the onset of schizophrenia usually occurs during a person's late teens or early twenties.

It also suggests that programs serving individuals with serious and persistent mental illness should offer smoking cessation services since the effect of nicotine on  neurotransmitter balance may be undercutting efforts towards recovery.  This counters the old belief that the mentally ill "needed" to smoke in order to soothe stress.

No one NEEDS to smoke. EVER!

If you would like to learn more about an effective stop smoking program I would like to offer you two options: a) a free, confidential phone consultation, call (732) 714-7040 or b) sign up for my free e-course on letting go of the smoking habit at http://eepurl.com/0Vd91

Source material for this article at: http://www.webmd.com/smoking-cessation/news/20150710/smoking-schizophrenia