Smoking and Mental Health

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If every health care professional used this intervention to help people quit smoking, the health services would save nine do four billion. And there'd be an additional 15 billion pound saving to wider society. I mean, when you put it like that, it does suddenly seem completely obvious. We need national campaigns around the benefitsoof quitting and integrating smoking sessation treatment into mental health services. So yo warecome.

According to some estimates smoking causes one in 10 deaths worldwide. A lesser known side-effect of cigarettes is the damage they cause to our mental health. Yet, the rates of smoking among people with mental health conditions are much higher than the rest of the population. Last week, the UK government published the Khan review, an independent report looking at how England could become smoke free by 2030. One of the recommendations was to tackle the issue of mental health and smoking. Madeleine Finlay speaks to epidemiologist Dr Gemma Taylor about how significant this link is, what we can do to break it, and how to dispel the myth that smoking is a stress reliever. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod