The issue of mental health is rarely out of the news these days.
The stop smoking brigade jumped on the bandwagon some time ago with the Royal College of Physicians going as far as to say 'one in three of the UK’s 10 million current smokers has a mental disorder '. That was in March 2013.
Today the tobacco control industry is determined to use the issue to further target smokers and drive down smoking rates.
For example, 'Greater Manchester smokers encouraged to quit to improve their mental health' (May 11, 2021).
Or this, on the NHS website (Stopping smoking for your mental health):
It's a common belief that smoking helps you relax. But smoking actually increases anxiety and tension.
Smokers are also more likely than non-smokers to develop depression over time.
ASH too has been banging the mental health drum arguing that 'Higher smoking rates remain the single largest cause of the estimated 10-20 year reduced life expectancy for people with mental health conditions'.
Last year the group called for more training on smoking cessation for mental health nurses.
Even the vaping industry is getting in on the act. As I wrote recently, a report by Vape Club, the "UK's largest online vape shop", was branded the 'Quitting Smoking for Mental Health' study.
Shamelessly the company used the study to call for smoking to be banned outside pubs unaware, perhaps, of the impact this might have on the mental health of smokers whose only opportunity to socialise might be to pop down to their local for a cigarette and a pint, even if they are restricted to sitting outside.
But what about the other side of the coin, the argument that smoking may help those suffering from mental health issues?
I’m not suggesting that non-smokers should take up smoking to improve their mental well-being, but David Hockney has long argued that smoking is good for his own mental health, pointing out that while many of his peers in America use Prozac, he chose to smoke.
Friend of Forest Dan Donovan (who to the best of my knowledge does not have mental health issues!) also spoke for many smokers when he told a recent Forest webinar why he enjoys smoking:
It's something I can focus on. I think smokers are generally better listeners. In conversation people aren't constantly interrupting each other ... They're quite chilled and give time for each other and I think that is all part of having a good balance to mental health.
Some time ago someone else posted this on the Friends of Forest Facebook page. I’ve not posted it here before but it’s worth reading:
The demonisation of smoking and the fear of addiction to nicotine is, in my view, depriving so many people of a better quality of life.
I found [smoking] helped me tremendously. I knew things were not right. I tried talking to my mum but as mental health was very much a taboo subject back then I was just told not to be so silly and to pull myself together. Smoking did take the edge off what was detrimental in my life.
It took decades before I was officially diagnosed with anxiety and depression and it has only been the past 10/12 years that I finally got the right dose of the right medication that helps. In all those years I had self harmed and attempted suicide on several occasions.
I still smoke and always will. Apart from the fact that I still enjoy it, I have the fear that quitting may, psychologically or otherwise, be detrimental. Apart from that, without smoking I would end up being obese and that would most definitely be detrimental to my mental health.
The cost of smoking these days, for others like me, can make the difference between eating and smoking, where smoking is more important. Fortunately I am not quite in that position now but I have been.
Without general 24/7 psychiatric appointments being available, to accommodate the many workers who don't work normal 9 to 5 jobs, things will only get worse.
I still need therapies but cannot get them. It is not a case of just a one off session, or a now and again session. It is about ongoing regular sessions which is the only way things can improve. Many, like me, cannot have access to these therapies due to working hours.
The indoor smoking ban has done untold damage to many smokers like me and many businesses are causing more harm by only allowing staff to smoke during the lunch break. This is also counter productive to the company because if a smoker wants/needs a smoke then their focus is on that therefore their work suffers.
There are many other things in our lives that are more harmful than smoking that are not controlled. It is about time we were no longer demonised and the world accepted that for some smoking is a lifeline.
I would remind you too of a discussion on Jeremy Vine's Radio 2 show a few years ago. It featured an interview with Mary, matron at the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust, who was determined her patients should stop smoking, plus contributions from several mental health patients (past and present) who were smokers.
You can read the full transcript here.
The point I am making is that tobacco control campaigners see smoking as something that only has a negative impact on people's mental health and, worse, leads inexorably to poor physical health.
Some of us, on the other hand, think smoking may be a help to some people who might otherwise suffer from poor mental health, but that argument is being drowned out by a tobacco control industry that is so dogmatic it refuses to acknowledge any positive effect of smoking.
Dan Donovan, David Hockney, our anonymous contributor on Facebook (and others) all talk about the positive effect of smoking on their lives but their views are dismissed by those who think they know better and are determined to stub out a habit that for some people is a source of pleasure if not a lifesaver (and I don't use that word lightly).
Another point is this. Given all the anti-smoking regulations and the deliberate attempt to denormalise a legitimate habit, I can't imagine it can be good for someone's mental health if every time they light up they’re either made to feel guilty about they’re habit or they're forced to do it furtively in case they’re ‘caught’.
Seriously, how is that supposed to help anyone’s mental health? Unfortunately the subject has become so emotive it's difficult to have a rational discussion about it. But we need to try, if only to change the narrative that smoking offers no benefits, mentally or otherwise, to the consumer.