A new research suggests that smoking may be a factor for developing psychotic illnesses such as schizophrenia. We’ve been told that “smoking kills” but this is the first study discerning whether it can actually be a casual factor for psychosis.
Smoking: a risk factor not a consequence of psychosis
We would expect smoking rates to increase only after people had developed the condition. However, although more research needs to be done, early information strongly suggests that there might be a correlation between cigarettes and mental disorders.
Dr James McCabe, clinical lecturer in psychosis studies at the King’s Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience said smoking should be “taken seriously as a possible risk factor” for psychosis and not “dismissed as a consequence of the illness”.
Linking psychotic disorders and tobacco smoking
The study carried out by researchers from Kings College London analysed data from over 60 investigations on a massive group of 15,000 smokers and 2, 73,000 nonsmokers.
Studies were conducted around the world between 1980 and 2014. Three hypotheses were tested linking psychotic disorders and tobacco smoking.
The results of the study
The results, which were published in the Lancet Psychiatry journal, found that 57% of people first diagnosed with psychosis were smokers.
Individuals, who had experienced their first episode of psychosis, were three times more likely to be addicted to cigarettes, compared to non-smokers. Researchers also found that psychotic illnesses develop in individuals who smoke daily, a year earlier than those who do not smoke.
But how is this possible?
Experts attribute the link between smoking and psychosis to a number of factors. Biochemistry plays some part. According to Professor of Psychiatric research at the IoPPN, this could be a consequence of excess dopamine caused by nicotine exposure, which in turn causes psychosis to develop. The authors of the study, however, admitted that coming up with an exact cause-effect relationship between smoking and psychosis is challenging.
Smoking as a self-medication
Tobacco-based incentives in psychiatric settings are becoming less common. But you still hear about the myth that folks need to smoke because it helps with psychiatric symptoms and there is a history of rewarding patients with cigarettes for good behaviour or medication compliance, in some psychiatric institutions.
Furthermore, research published in the Schizophrenia Bulletin focused on how the tobacco industry specifically marketed cigarettes to patients with schizophrenia. People often associate smoking as a sort of self-medication and researchers have found that the culture of the mental health system has also helped to perpetuate tobacco use among people with mental disorders.
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Is Smoking a Cause or a Consequence of Psychosis?
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