WyCo, KU med center team to curb smoking among mentally ill
Kansas City StarApr 03, 2017
People with mental illness are 70 percent more likely to use tobacco, she said, and it's not just the physical addiction to nicotine that makes them want to light up.
"You're going to have to deal with the fact that they're in a social system where smoking is the norm," Richter said, because friends they meet in treatment and family members who share their genetic risk for mental illness are also more likely to smoke.
Over four days last week, Richter and
One of them is
Leach said he's seen the pull toward smoking among the mentally ill.
"We think that a lot of it has to do with the fact that they're using it as a coping skill and they think it helps them manage stress," Leach said. "But we also know that people with a mental health diagnosis are living 25 years less on average than a person without a diagnosis."
Leach said that as a former smoker himself, he's been able to use his personal story of quitting to help some of his residents. But the training gave him more formal strategies and pointed him toward smoking cessation resources he didn't know about.
It also gave him a new reason to push his residents to quit: Smoking might counteract their medications.
In addition to all the usual negative health effects of tobacco use, Richter said it can also impede the body's ability to absorb anti-psychotics used to treat conditions like schizophrenia.
"So they actually have to get dosed higher in order to control their symptoms," Richter said.
That can pose problems, because the drugs sometimes have severe side effects, she said.
It also means people who are on the anti-psychotics should be monitored closely as they try to quit tobacco, in case their medications need to be adjusted.
Richter said there's never been more products and support groups -- both online and in person -- available to help people quit smoking. And
"That doesn't exist in most places," Richter said.
"They say to themselves they need a cigarette, but no they don't need a cigarette," Washington said. "They need to do something else with their hands, or go take a walk. Do something positive with their life instead of negative."
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