A Recent Study Revealed That Alcohol, Tobacco and Drug Use is Higher in Mentally Ill People
(PRWEB) January 22, 2014 -- According to a recent research, individuals who have psychotic disorders are using alcohol, tobacco and drugs more when compared to the general population.
The research, which has been conducted on 20,000 people, is based on analyzing the smoking, drinking and drug use of the participants. More than half of the people who participated in the research had no record of mental illness. On the other hand, 9,142 had been diagnosed with either schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder or depression, which is listed as a mood disorder.
The results of the study shows that 30% of participants with one of the disorders listed below was binge drinkers; that is people defined as consuming four alcoholic drinks at a time, whereas the rate is 8% when it comes to the general population.
The percentage of the regular smokers among the participants with mental illness is 75%. The rate is 33% when general population is analyzed. In addition, the marijuana usage among the participants with mental illnesses is around 50% however the participants from the general population shows a rate of 18%.
Researchers noted the use of illicit drug is seen on that half of the participants who had psychiatric illness. General population’s rate is 12% according to their findings.
The findings of the research are important because the previous researches show that individuals who have serious psychiatric illness are more likely to die around 12-15 years earlier than people who don’t have mental illness.
More encouragement is needed to restrain substance use:
The findings of a previous research, which indicates factors such as race and gender don’t have typical influence when a person develops a mental illness have also been opposed in this research. This controversial and confusing topic, along with the most recent developments in the field to serve the people with mental illness better, will tried to be lighted in the 16th World Congress of Psychiatry.
In the explanation made by the scientific team, it has been stated that, in the last few decades smoking rates have decreased in the general population. Another thing pointed out in the explanation was that younger people are tend to be regular smokers less when compared with the individuals older than 50 years old.
However, no matter what their age is, people who have mental illness show a rate of 75% smoking, the study revealed.
According to the scientific team, the findings of the research raises to the question of whether to concentrate on encouraging the patients with mental illness to reduce their alcohol, tobacco and drug use to extend their life span.
The explanation made by the team also pointed out that health care professionals should pay more attention and be better at encouraging the mentally ill patients to refrain them from using these substances.
References:
Comorbidity of Severe Psychotic Disorders With Measures of Substance Use, doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2013.3726, Sarah M. Hartz, MD, PhD; Carlos N. Pato, MD, PhD; Helena Medeiros, MSW; Patricia Cavazos-Rehg, PhD; Janet L. Sobell, PhD; James A. Knowles, MD, PhD; Laura J. Bierut, MD; Michele T. Pato, MD, published in JAMA Psychitry, 1 January 2014. Abstract
Alcohol, tobacco, drug use far higher in severely mentally ill, news release from the Washington University in St. Louis, accessed 2 January 2014.
Tezcan Varol, EventEgg, http://eventegg.com, +90 5335010186, [email protected]
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