The latest Vital Signs shows cigarette smoking is a serious problem among adults with mental illness. More needs to be done to help adults with mental illness quit smoking and make mental health facilities tobacco-free.
The latest Vital Signs from CDC notes that many adults with mental illness who smoke want to quit, can quit, and will benefit from proven stop-smoking treatments. It’s true that some people with mental illness face issues that can make it more challenging to quit, such as low income, stressful living conditions, and lack of access to health insurance and health care. All of these factors make it more challenging to quit. But that doesn’t mean that smokers with mental illness can’t benefit from the same proven treatments as anyone else.
Nationally, nearly 1 in 5 adults (or 45.7 million adults) have some form of mental illness, and 36% of these people smoke cigarettes. In comparison, 21% of adults without mental illness smoke cigarettes. (Mental illness is defined here as diagnosable mental, behavioral, or emotional conditions and does not include developmental and substance use disorders.)
There are other troubling statistics from the report:
· 31% of all cigarettes are smoked by adults with mental illness.
· 40% of men and 34% of women with mental illness smoke.
· 48% of people with mental illness who live below the poverty level smoke, compared with 33% of those with mental illness who live above the poverty level.
http://www.cdc.gov/features/vitalsigns/smokingandmentalillness/
PLEASE if you have a mental illness know that the exact same methods presented by the BecomeanEX Community are the ones that can work for you, too! Listen to the Community and get on board with your Quit Journey! They may not understand or be able to address your mental health concerns – THAT is for your professional therapist – but they know what it takes to Quit Smoking!
You can either use your illness as an excuse (which won’t prevent you from getting a smoking related illness) OR you can work as hard as it takes to become FREE of Nicotine Addiction – which leads to increased self confidence – which leads to alleviating your mental health symptoms!
TODAY is a GREAT DAY to LIVE Smoke FREE! And YOU are no exception!
