Secondhand Smoke Exposure is Traumatic – Rape of Your Spirit & Home

The vicarious effects of trauma from secondhand smoke can be insidious, says psychologist Ann Hilty.

As Secondhand Smoke Crimes makes clear, not only are secondhand smoke victims in condos, apartments and multi-family buildings victimized by continued exposure to the smoke – but they are twice victimized by ignorant, abusive board members, property managers and owners who demean their suffering.

Secondhand smoke exposure is rape of your home. The pain from losing the security and peaceful enjoyment of property is acute. Your home becomes a prison, and there is no escape but to move (and few can afford to do so).  In Utah, a family that wanted to escape was told they would have to pay $2,000 to cancel their lease. The smoker wins. Your life is turned upside down and no one cares.

“Many people are familiar with psychologist Abraham Maslow’s “Hierarchy of Need”, which indicates in what order our most basic needs must be met; a sense of safety and security is at the very foundation, just above physiological needs such as food, water, and breathing.  Trauma of either type, or — most challenging of all — in combination and cumulative, represents the destruction of one’s sense of safety and security, and without this foundation, all other aspects of life become secondary.  It is hugely difficult to experience a sense of joy, or of loving and being loved, or of trust and developing attachments, when one’s sense of safety is absent.” ~ Ann Hilty