May 26, 2011 - The  International Center for the Disabled (ICD) launched a new pilot program in January which aims to help the mentally ill quit smoking. Nearly half of all the cigarettes sold in the U.S. are smoked by people with serious mental illnesses, according to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2000. People with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and other mental illnesses are twice as likely to smoke as the general population, and they tend to smoke about 50% more cigarettes per day. ICD’s smoking cessation program challenges today’s culture regarding smoking among the mentally ill, rejecting the notion that persons with serious mood disorders don’t want to quit and shouldn’t quit because the withdrawal symptoms could cause depression. Smoking takes a heavy toll on mentally ill patients, who have high rates of cancer, heart disease, and stroke and have an average lifespan that is 25 years less than the rest of the population. Although about 60% of state mental hospitals now prohibit smoking, only about one-third of them offer treatment to help patients quit. The pilot program, funded by SAMHSA, which uses nicotine-replacement therapy and one-on-one counseling with trained therapists, is already having positive results.

For more information, please visit http://psychcentral.com/lib/2011/new-pilot-program-tries-to-help-the-mentally-ill-quit-smoking/