In a recent study, mental health patients smoke three times more frequently than the general population, which not only reduces the life expectancy by 10 to 20 years, but also triggers anxiety and depression, according to the Public Health England.
Excessive consumption of tobacco can also reduce the effects of prescribed medication taken by patients by up to 50%.
Aiming to implement a smoke-free policy in hospitals with mental health patients, the researchers from PHE found out that 64% of people with mental disorders are dependent on tobacco, compared to only 18% of the general public.
"It's been commonplace for smoking to be facilitated - for nurses to purchase cigarettes for patients, to accommodate patients cigarette breaks and to escort people to smoke rather than to be investing energy in educating people on the harmful effects of smoking," London's Maudsley Hospital matron, Mary Yates tells BBC.
Yates added that patients who have given up the vice have developed a more positive mental well-being. "People who are able to successfully give up smoking feel less anxious, have improvements in their moods, have increased self-confidence, and begin to feel that they are able to tackle a lot more in life."
This warning caught the attention of smokers' rights group, Forest, saying people with mental disorders should also enjoy the equal right to freedom as much as the general public has.
"What PHE is proposing is discrimination. It will target unfairly a group of people who, being dependent on others, has little alternative other than to comply," Simon Clark of Forest said in a statement.
Former mental health patient, Gary Nevan, however admitted to BBC that though it was difficult for mental health institutions to impose a No Smoking rule, and patients were given full freedom to smoke in the premises, smoking did get him more prone to anxiety and depression.
Nevan added that quitting cigarette smoking got him "a much better, robust sense of being able to maintain my wellbeing."
