MARLBORO - WINSTON - L&M - CAMEL - PARLIAMENT - KENT - CLASSIC

For doctors who work in psychiatric hospitals, it is no secret that patients with schizophrenia are almost always heavy smokers. That’s why for health care workers in such hospitals one of the main issues confronting psychiatric facilities seeking to institute blanket no-smoking policies concerns chronic inpatients with schizophrenia one of the major issues confronting psychiatric facilities seeking to place blanket no-smoking policies relations chronic inpatients with schizophrenia.

Many patients in psychiatric hospitals would smoke two, three, or even four packs of cigarettes a day if an unrestricted supply of cigarettes were available, reported anti-tobacco researchers.

Unfortunately, researchers demonstrated that even designated "No-smoking" areas provide little or no protection against the many toxic substances in tobacco smoke that are dangerous even in microscopic quantities. And as for ventilation, even Philip Morris, the largest tobacco company in the world, admits on it’s website that ventilation systems are not an effective safeguard against the impact of second hand smoke.

Statistics show that the rate of inpatient smoking among schizophrenics is three to four times higher than the general smoking population. For example, in one British study of 100 institutionalized schizophrenics cited by Lyon, 92% of the men and 82% of the women were smokers. Further, schizophrenics smoke more cigarettes per day than other smokers do, and they usually smoke high-tar, unfiltered cigarettes.

Researchers reported also that depressives and those with anxiety disorders also smoke in great numbers of cigarettes. There is firm evidence that nicotine could be used by patients with schizophrenia as a ‘self-medication’ for to ameliorate deficits in attention, cognition, and information processing and to reduce side effects of antipsychotic medication.

There is an additional reason why smoking is an issue of importance for health professionals. According to several studies, smokers need higher levels of antipsychotic than nonsmokers. In general smoking is part of the culture in mental health care, and its removal inevitably threatens long-standing ceremony and traditions that are perceived to maintain stability and calm. In this way, the mental healthcare system is as addicted to cigarettes as any individual patient. And quitting is never easy especially for schizophrenic people.