Breathing in Second-Hand Smoke Can Cause Mental Illness

Did you know more than 60 percent of children, ages 3 to 11-years-old are exposed to second-hand smoke? The affects of second-hand smoke may be damaging to their mental health as it has been linked to cause anxiety, ADHD, and depression.In a recent study in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, researchers looked at nearly 3,000 children, ages 8 to 15. They examined the affects of second-hand smoke by measuring the amount of continie in the child's system. Cotinie is a chemical made from nicotine found in cigarette smoke that shows how much cigarette smoke enters the body. The children were also given a questionnaire from the National Institute of Mental Health's Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children to see what current mental disorders they possessed.

After the study was conducted, the researchers found that higher levels of continine were linked to symptoms of emotional/behavioral problems such as generalized anxiety disorder, ADHD, conduct disorder, and major depressive disorder.

Los Angeles Times reports, "none of those symptoms added up to a single diagnosis of a mental health disorder that could be linked with exposure to second-hand smoke in the children and teens in the study." The authors of the study agreed that a child's psychiatric history is not controlled. Even still, this research increases evidence that second-hand smoke negatively affects a child's health. It has been shown that second-hand smoke increases the risk of stillbirth and congenital birth defects in nonsmoking pregnant women according to Time Magazine.

full story

Debunking the Concerns On Adult ADHD

A recent article in the New York Times answered the questions of readers about adult ADHD through the New York Times.com Consult discussion blogs. Dr. Russell Barkley, clinical professor at the Medical University of South Carolina, responded to every question. Dr. Barkley made it clear that the symptoms of ADHD tend to get better as a child grows older or enters adulthood. His research stated that "14 percent to 35 percent of children who had A.D.H.D. could be considered to have recovered or moved to within the normal range by the time they were 27." But the majority of adults with ADHD do not completely outgrow it in adulthood. It is extremely likely that the symptoms will still be present. 

Dr. Barkley also reminded people that when a person has a mental illness, were likely to have had ADHD in their youth and the ADHD could have remained in heir adulthood.  There is no evidence that adult ADHD  kicks in when a person is already developed as an adult. Perhaps, according to Dr. Barkley, "aging does result in a decline in certain executive functions that can mimic some of the symptoms of A.D.H.D.," but that just debunks the concern of developing the disease at a an old age.

With more and more people recognizing ADHD as a serious issue, ADHD is no longer taboo. People are more comfortable talking about it, like in the New York Times consult blog. Blogging about mental illness also will allow people to ask questions without having to pay a visit to a psychiatrist, and their identities remain anonymous to make discussions more revealing. If more people asked questions about other mental illnesses, then families would be more aware of the symptoms and get help for their loved ones if needed.


- Vivian Mikhail