. Mona Srivastava; . Shobhit Jain; . Ashok Patel
Volume 8, Issue 6 , June 2018, , Pages 1-6
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Substance abuse and mental disorder often coexist and may cause severalconsequences in sociooccupational functioning and health care and management. Indian data aresparse ...
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BACKGROUND: Substance abuse and mental disorder often coexist and may cause severalconsequences in sociooccupational functioning and health care and management. Indian data aresparse in this area.OBJECTIVES: The aim of the study was to examine the sociodemographic profile, pattern, andprevalence of alcohol and substance use among person suffering with mental illness and to comparewith those without mental illness.METHODS: A total of 80 treatment‑seeking patients with mental illness and 80 nontreatment seekinghealthy accompanying persons were assessed for current substance use. Mental illness was screenedusing Structured Clinical Interview for DSM‑IV Axis I Disorders and the diagnosis was made as perDSM IV, semi‑structured sociodemographic pro forma was also applied. The data collected wereanalyzed using the Chi‑square and Student’s t‑test.RESULTS: Substance use was found 2.5 times higher among cases (56.2%) than controls (22.5%).Substance‑using participants comprised mainly males belonging to rural residence. The substanceusing cases were more unmarried, less educated, poorer economically, and more nuclear familystructures that substance‑using controls. When compared with non‑substance using cases, caseswith substance use had more males than females and lower education. Although both groups werealmost similar in term of marital status, family structure, residence, and socioeconomic status.Among both groups, most common substance use was tobacco, followed by alcohol and cannabis.Although all the substances were more prevalent among cases than controls. The prevalence ofany substance use was highest among cases with psychotic disorder (77.3%), followed by unipolardepression (62.5%), bipolar affective disorder (41.7%), and anxiety disorders (21.4%). Tobacco andcannabis use was most prevalent among cases suffering with psychotic disorders, whereas alcoholuse was most prevalent among cases suffering with unipolar depression.CONCLUSIONS: Mentally ill individuals are vulnerable to develop substance use, thus they are doublyjeopardized. The susceptibility of these individuals stem from lesser insight, need for stimulation, todecrease the anhedonia induced by psychoactive medicines and poor awareness hence this groupof individuals has several health and social consequences; therefore, they require due attention.A better care, support, and education are needed for substance using patients with mental illnessto improve their prognosis and also help in their appropriate rehabilitation.
