Recently, a research team from The University of California in the United States published a paper in the authoritative medical Journal “The Journal of General Internal Medicine”, pointing out that electronic cigarettes can not only help smokers suffering from depression, autism and other mental diseases quit cigarettes, but also have a powerful harm reduction effect. Psychologists should promote e-cigarettes to smokers to save their lives.
The study was published in The Journal of General Internal Medicine.
People with mental illness are one of the most seriously affected groups by cigarettes. In the United States, the smoking rate (cigarette users/total number of people *100%) of people with mental illness is about 25%, which is twice that of the general population. Mental illness accounts for about 40% of the 520,000 deaths caused by cigarettes each year. “We have to help smokers with mental illness quit. However, they are highly dependent on nicotine, and the normal methods of quitting are almost ineffective. It is important to find new ways to quit smoking based on their characteristics and needs.” “The authors wrote in the paper.
Quitting tobacco is described on the World Health Organization’s website as “quitting tobacco,” because the nicotine in cigarettes is not carcinogenic, but the nearly 7,000 chemicals and 69 carcinogens produced by tobacco combustion are hazardous to health. E-cigarettes do not contain the burning process of tobacco and can reduce the harm of cigarettes by 95%, which is considered by researchers to have the potential to become a new smoking cessation tool.
Studies have shown that smokers suffering from mental illness use e-cigarettes to help them quit smoking, and the success rate is significantly higher than that of other smoking cessation methods. The authors point out that this is because people with mental illness have a harder time overcoming nicotine withdrawal symptoms such as irritability, anxiety, and headache than ordinary smokers, and the use of e-cigarettes is similar to the action and experience of cigarettes, which is significantly effective in alleviating nicotine withdrawal symptoms.
E-cigarettes are also more acceptable to smokers with mental health problems. The study found that many people with mental illness will resist smoking cessation drugs provided by doctors, but 50% of people with mental illness who want to quit smoking will choose to switch to e-cigarettes.
It is the psychologist who should take the initiative to change. For a long time, in order to narrow the distance between patients, most psychologists will not take the initiative to ask patients to quit smoking, and some doctors will even give cigarettes as a prize to hospitalized patients. Electronic cigarettes have a strong harm reduction effect, easy to be accepted by smokers suffering from mental illness, and the effect of smoking cessation is obvious, psychologists can completely recommend electronic cigarettes as a “treatment” tool to smokers.
“Smoking rates in the United States are declining year by year, but smoking rates among people with mental illness are only increasing. We need to pay attention to that. Although e-cigarettes are not a panacea, they are particularly effective in helping smokers with mental illness quit smoking and reduce harm. “If mental health institutions take the scientific evidence seriously and promote e-cigarettes to smokers in a timely manner, hundreds of thousands of lives will be saved in the future.” “The authors wrote in the paper.
Post time: Aug-09-2023
