New report finds smoking is a cause of depression and schizophrenia

Smoking increases the risk of developing schizophrenia by between 53% and 127% and of developing depression by 54% to 132%, a report by academics from the University of Bristol has shown. More research is however needed to identify why this is the case, as well as for other mental health conditions such as anxiety or bipolar disorder.

The evidence presented at the Royal College of Psychiatrists International Congress indicates rates of smoking are much higher among people with mental health conditions than those without. It references England’s 6 million smokers of which an estimated

230 000 smokers live with severe mental illness (e.g. schizophrenia and bi-polar disorder), while 1.6 million have depression and anxiety.

One of the authors of the new report, Professor Marcus Munafo, Professor of Biological Psychology at the University of Bristol, said:

“There is no longer any doubt that smoking is bad for mental health. Those working with people with mental health conditions need to understand and address the vicious cycle of bidirectional effects, whereby having symptoms of mental illness causes individuals to smoke more and to be more likely to become addicted. At the same time, smoking also increases the risk of subsequent mental illness and exacerbates mental health symptoms. Lower rates of smoking will improve overall levels of good mental health as well as physical health.”

Alongside the report a joint publication by Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) and the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ Public Mental Health Implementation Centre sets out how a public mental health approach to smoking can be taken to address smoking and reduce poor mental health.

Dr Adrian James, President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists said:

“Smoking addiction is not a trivial matter; it causes serious harm to both body and mind. Smokers with mental health conditions can quit with the right support from healthcare professionals. It’s our duty as psychiatrists to offer them the help they need to succeed.”

Joanne Hart, former smoker and recovered from depression said:

“Stopping smoking changed my life for the better, both physically and mentally. It is shocking to learn that smoking could have been one of the reasons for my depression. As a smoker I knew I was damaging my health but when times were tough it was easy to think that it was helping mentally – everyone should know the opposite is true.”

Source: ash.org/uk

Stats:

• The tobacco industry contributes 84 megatons of CO2 emissions into the air each year.

• 600 million trees are annually chopped down to make cigarettes.

• Tobacco farming across 125 countries results in the annual destruction of 3.5 million hectares of land.

• Cigarette butts dump a toxic mix of nicotine, arsenic and heavy metals into water, soil and oceans.

• cigarette filters are the single biggest source of global plastic pollution.

• 55,92 million cigarettes consumed each day result in 2 972 tonnes of waste each year.

• Growing and curing tobacco contributes to food scarcity in low- and middle-income countries.

Did you know?

Smoke

Cigarette smoke contains more than 7 000 chemicals, at least 69 of which are known to cause cancer.

Health tip

Light, low-tar and filtered cigarettes aren't any safer.

Health precaution tip

There is no such thing as a safe cigarette.

See a doctor when:

Your doctor, if they know you smoke and you are looking to quit, can point you in the right direction.