January 24, 2007
Psychiatric Disorders and Substance Abuse
There is a good series of articles on the topic of psychiatric disorders (including schizophrenia) and substance abuse and addictions in Psychiatric Times. Following is a brief excerpt from the introduction to the series:
Substance use disorder (SUD) plays a prominent role in the cause, and course of mental illness. It is estimated that 9.1% of our population, or more than 22 million Americans, have SUD; however, only 10% of these persons receive treatment. The incidence of SUD in persons with mental illness (21.3%) is significantly greater than for those without mental illness (7.7%). Of the more than 5 million Americans with co-existing mental illness and SUD, fewer than half received treatment at either a specialty mental health or substance abuse treatment facility. Only 8.5% received treatment for both mental illness and SUD; the rest received either one or the other.1 These statistics underscore the prevalence of comorbid mental illness and SUD and clearly show that the majority of patients are currently not receiving treatment for these disorders.
Read the entire series: Psychiatric Disorders and Substance Abuse
Special thanks to Tim^ for pointing this story out to us.
Posted by szadmin at January 24, 2007 02:56 PM
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Schizophrenia and Substance Abuse
Comments
It makes me sad that there are still millions of Americans out there who have not received any kind of substance abuse treatment yet. The government should do something about this. These people need help! Who knows what will happen to do them if they don't get the proper substance abuse treatment they need?
--hannah
Posted by: Substance Abuse Treatment at March 8, 2007 01:17 AM
I think that these people should recieve some help, but I don't know if the government should be entitled to fix everything. Why don't some rich person give some of his pocket change to help these people instead of the government. I know it is hard for addicted people to get over the addiction. But they have to want before they actually can.
Posted by: Martie at April 17, 2007 09:36 AM
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It makes me sad that there are still millions of Americans out there who have not received any kind of substance abuse treatment yet. The government should do something about this. These people need help! Who knows what will happen to do them if they don't get the proper substance abuse treatment they need?
--hannah
Posted by: Substance Abuse Treatment at March 8, 2007 01:17 AM
I think that these people should recieve some help, but I don't know if the government should be entitled to fix everything. Why don't some rich person give some of his pocket change to help these people instead of the government. I know it is hard for addicted people to get over the addiction. But they have to want before they actually can.
Posted by: Martie at April 17, 2007 09:36 AM