In a study published today in the journal Addiction, researchers have determined that treatment for smoking dependence is as effective among people with severe mental illnesses as it is for the general population. Importantly, they also found that offering such treatments does not appear to cause deterioration in mental health.
This is good news: people with severe mental illnesses (SMI) such as schizophrenia have some of the worst physical health of any section of the population. They are two to three times more likely to smoke, and smoking-related illnesses contribute significantly to their high sickness and death rates. Mortality rates for those with SMI are three times that of the rest of the population.
Although treatment for smoking dependence would improve the physical health of people with SMI, the medical community has traditionally ignored health promotion and worried that such treatments would worsen people's mental states.
The authors brought together the most rigorous evidence on smoking cessation treatment among people with SMI. They were able to determine the effectiveness of smoking cessation treatment and chart any predictable adverse effects. In general, people with SMI responded well to pharmaceutical and behavioural treatments, which doubled their chance of quitting.
Because most of the studies focused on people with well controlled psychiatric conditions, it was not possible to state how well people with acute mental illness (such as those who have experienced recent hospitalisation) would respond to smoking cessation treatment.