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CHAPTER 9
MENTAL HEALTH
Mental health problems were studied by examining current psychiatric diagnoses of major depression and post-traumatic stress disorder; the extent to which clients suffered other psychiatric symptoms; those who experienced physical or sexual abuse; how current mental health status compared to others in the United States; and a rating of current need for mental health services.
Figure 9.A presents findings on rates of current major depression and post-traumatic stress disorder for the substance abuse and non-affected samples. Almost half (48%) of the substance abuse sample met criteria for either disorder as compared to 10% of the non-affected sample.
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Figure 9.B presents findings of the percent of the participants who reported experiencing significant psychiatric problems not related to substance abuse at some point in their lives. The substance abuse sample experienced significantly more psychiatric problems than the non-affected sample. Overall, a substantial minority of substance abusers experienced significant problems with depression, anxiety, and controlling anger. About one in four substance abusers reports attempting suicide.
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Figure 9.C presents findings of the percent of women reporting physical and sexual abuse. Almost half (49%) of substance abusers report being physically abused at some point in their lives and one-third (35%) report being sexually abused. Rates of abuse were significantly lower for the non-affected sample. However, about one in four women in the non-affected sample report being the victim of physical and sexual abuse.
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Figure 9.D compares mental health functioning of the substance abuse and non-affected sample to a representative sample of adults in the United States. Over half (57%) of the substance abuse sample scored in the lowest quartile versus one in five (20%) for the non-affected sample.
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Figure 9.E presents interviewers' ratings of current need for mental health treatment based on a scale in the Addiction Severity Index. About 45% of the substance abuse sample were rated as requiring additional mental health treatment versus 15% for the non-affected sample.
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Overall, the substance abuse sample experienced high rates of mental health problems with almost half meeting criteria for current major depression or post-traumatic stress disorder and over half scoring in the lowest quartile of mental health status compared to other adults in the U.S. A substantial minority of substance abusers reported being physically or sexually abused and almost one in four reported attempting suicide. In addition, interviewers rated almost half as requiring mental health treatment. The non-affected sample reported significantly fewer mental health problems with about 10% reporting a current mental health disorder and 15% requiring mental health treatment.
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