The rate of tobacco smoking is much higher among those with mental
illness than among the general population, and those who are mentally
ill also smoke more cigarettes and have more trouble quitting, according
to a Washington Post editorial by Steven A. Schroeder, director of the Smoking Cessation Leadership Center.
In
the United States, between 50 and 80 percent of all people with mental
illness are smokers, whereas only 20 percent of the general population
smokes. Those with mental illness also smoke more cigarettes per day
than other smokers, and are more likely to smoke cigarettes all the way
down to the filters. The combination of these two factors means that 44
percent of all cigarettes sold in the United States are sold to people
who are mentally ill.
Those who are mentally ill also have more trouble quitting, succeeding at less than half the rate of the general population.
The
high rate of tobacco use among the mentally ill is thought to
contribute substantially to the lowered life expectancy among that
population; people with mental illnesses die an average of 25 years
sooner than the general population.
Among the general population,
smokers die an average of 10 to 15 years earlier than non-smokers.
Approximately 440,000 people die of smoking-induced causes in the United
States every year.
According to Schroeder, part of the reason
for the prevalence of smoking among the mentally ill is that mental
health hospitals have a long tradition of using cigarettes
as a way to control patients, proffering smoking breaks as rewards and
withholding cigarettes as punishment. This trend is in the process of
changing, however, and more than 50 percent of all mental health
institutions in the United States are now entirely smoke-free.
In
March 2003, 28 organizations came together to form the National Mental
Health Partnership for Wellness and Smoking Cessation, of which the
Smoking Cessation Leadership Center is a member
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