Secondhand Smoke May Harm Mental Health

Health officials have known for some time the physical ill effects of smoking on a smoker and on those exposed to secondhand smoke. Now new research at the University of London indicates a link between secondhand smoke and an increase in depression in those exposed to secondhand smoke.

The research involved 8,155 men and women and the results were recently published in the Archives of General Psychiatry. Mark Hamer at University of London headed the research team which found as much as a 50% increase in psychological stress in nonsmokers exposed to high amounts of secondhand smoke.

These findings are of particular concerns in group-home and mental-health settings where staff allow patients to smoke in order to relieve mental stress. The data Mark Hamer and his team have uncovered seems to indicate that smoking may actually increase not only mental stress for the smoker but also for those exposed to secondhand smoke.

This research on the ill effects of second smoke on mental health will continue.