Vets with PTSD are better able to quit smoking with concurrent treatment.
Last December a study was published showing that vets have an easier time quitting smoking when cessation treatment is combined with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) treatment. The research was conducted by the US Veterans Affairs (VA) health-care system.
They followed up with vets after four years and found that “patients who received the combined treatment were twice as likely to have quit smoking for at least a year.” The sad thing is that the percentages were 9 percent who stayed quit versus 4.5 percent who had been referred separately for smoking treatment.
An accompanying editorial states: “Individuals with serious mental illness are dying 25 years prematurely, and the major causes of death are tobacco-related cancer, heart disease, and lung disease.” (Judith Prochaska, Ph.D. UCSF professor of Psychiatry.)
In my own smoking cessation group that I attended for many years, participants who stated they had been diagnosed with mental illness often had the hardest time quitting, although I can think of two who were successful. I believe that people with mental illness are most likely using nicotine as a drug to self-medicate their moods.
It’s heartening that studies like this are being done to show the connection between personal issues and the use of any kind of drug including nicotine. I hope to see more.
