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Mental Illness Reduces Lifespan As Much as Smoking
That smoking is bad for your health is a commonplace; cancer, lung disease, and other possible consequences can all shorten smokers' lifespans. A new meta study from researchers at Oxford concludes that mental illness is just as big a factor in shortening lives, and not only because depression is a contributing factor to suicide.
From the story at NPR: "We know that smoking boosts the risk of cancer and heart disease, says Dr. Seena Fazel, a psychiatrist at Oxford University who led the study. But aside from the obvious fact that people with mental illnesses are more likely to commit suicide, it's not clear how mental disorders could be causing early deaths. The researchers looked at data on 1.7 million patients, drawing from 20 recent scientific reviews and studies from mostly wealthy countries. Comparing the effects of mental illness and smoking helps put the stats in context, Fazel tells Shots. 'It was useful to benchmark against something that has a very high mortality rate.'" [Press release from Oxford.]
The rhetoric of "choice" and "responsibility" is quasi-religious anyway, with no basis in science.
The human mind is very far from rational, and what little neurological evidence we have suggests we may make decisions before we have even become consciously aware of them - it's just really good at tricking itself into thinking it is a magically rational computer.
Rather than an artificial, binary divide between the capable and the incapable, it would be much better if we thought on a sliding scale in terms of some people being programmed to manage certain affairs better than others, and recognised that there is no fault beyond birth.