Social consequences of substance abuse: the impact of comorbid psychiatric disorders. A prospective study of a nation-wide sample of treatment-seeking patients

• Published in: Scandinavian Journal of Social Medicine
• Main Authors: Tomasson, K, Vaglum, P
• Other Authors: Department of Psychiatry, National University Hospital, Reykjavík, Iceland.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Scandinavian University Press 2010
• Subjects: Adult; Alcoholism; Comorbidity; Cross-Sectional Studies; Female; Humans; Iceland; Incidence; Male; Mental Disorders; Middle Aged; Patient Admission; Prospective Studies; Risk Factors; Social Problems; Substance-Related Disorders
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2336/93393; https://doi.org/10.1177/14034948980260010101

To access publisher full text version of this article. Please click on the hyperlink in Additional Links field This is both a retrospective and a 16 and 28 months prospective study of the association between psychiatric comorbidity and social consequences (accidents, fights, broken relationships, drunken driving arrest, and reduced employment) related to alcohol in a nation-wide sample (n = 351) of substance abusers seeking inpatient treatment. Psychiatric comorbidity was evaluated with the Diagnostic Interview Schedule, while drinking history and social consequences were assessed with a structured questionnaire. The social consequences had a high rate of re-occurrence. Controlled for alcohol consumption, polysubstance abuse predicted accidents (OR = 2.9) and fights (OR = 3.9) among men, while among pure alcoholics of both sexes phobia (OR = 4.3) and antisocial personality disorder (OR = 3.0) predicted fights. Only level of abuse predicted broken relationships. Antisocials had most drunken driving arrests. Attempts to reduce these social consequences should aim at treating polysubstance abuse, phobia, and antisocial personality disorder. However, the overriding aim should be the promotion of abstinence.