People who suffer from mental illnesses are especially vulnerable to destructive tobacco habits. Did you know…
- FACT: People with mental illnesses consume approximately 44% of the cigarettes sold in the United States.1
- FACT: The incidence of smoking in people who suffer from mental illnesses is approximately two times that of the general population.2
- FACT: Nicotine is as addictive as heroine or cocaine.3
- FACT: FACT: Nicotine is considered to be a 'gateway' drug; with adolescent substance abusers using tobacco first.5
- FACT: If a person does not start to smoke by the age of 18, chances are they will never start smoking.6
Despite these grueling facts, there is good news. People who suffer from tobacco addictions can quit and find freedom. We are here to help. Please contact the Smoke-free Solutions program for group classes that will assist you.
Not sure if you are ready to quit? Find out what Stage of Change you are in and how ready you are to quit. Or help a loved one by recognizing their readiness to quit. Too often we feel discouraged by seeing tobacco use in black and white terms. We tend to think, "Either a person smokes or they don't, either they quit or they don't." Instead we can be encouraged when we see someone making great progress, and doing the mental work of passing through these stages.
For more information on tobacco use and mental illnesses visit these websites:
http://www.njchoices.org/smokingforschizophreindigest.pdf
http://www.americanlegacy.org/americanlegacy/skins/alf/home.aspx
http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/284/20/2606
To visit a supportive website for people with mental illnesses who smoke visit:
www.njchoices.org
1. Lasser, Prevalence study, JAMA, June 2000
2. Lasser, Prevalence study, JAMA, June 2000
3. Nicotine Addiction in Britain. A report of the Tobacco Advisory Group of the Royal College of Physicians, February 2000.)
4. Thunder Road Adolescent Treatment Center fact sheet
5. Raymond Fleming, Howard Levanthal, Kathleen Glynn, and Joann Ershler, "The Role of Cigarettes in The Initiation And Progression Of Early Substance Use," 14 Addictive Behaviors (#3) 261-272 (1989).
6. McMahon, Robert, J., National Institute on Drug Abuse webpage, "Child and Adolescent Psychopathology as Risk Factors for Tobacco Use,"
http://www.nida.nih.gov/MeetSum/Nicotine/mcmahon.html.
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