Close to half of the Americans who die from tobacco-related causes are people with mental illness or substance abuse disorders, Tedeschi says. To drive home his point, Tedeschi points to a statistic from the 2014 release of The Health Consequences of Smoking - 50 Years of Progress: A Report of the Surgeon General, which says that more than 480,000 people die annually in the United States from causes related to cigarette smoking. … To let people continue to smoke because ‘it’s not as bad’ is missing a really important chance to help someone get healthier.” “This clientele, in particular, need the encouragement and support to go forward, and many of them want to, despite what people might think. The reality? “ is a devastating addiction and a difficult one to quit,” says Gary Tedeschi, clinical director of the California Smokers’ Helpline and a member of the American Counseling Association. In addition, despite their negative health effects, cigarettes are still largely viewed by society as an “acceptable” addiction in comparison with other substances.

For instance, many people smoke as a coping mechanism to deal with difficult feelings. It is widely accepted that the nicotine in cigarettes is highly addictive, but people struggling with mental health issues often turn to cigarettes for reasons that go beyond their addictive qualities. The federal agency says that rates of smoking are disproportionately higher - a little more than double - among those diagnosed with mental illness than among the general population. Nearly half of the cigarettes consumed in the United States are smoked by people dealing with a mental illness, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Flipbook app quiting