Comorbidities: Co-Occurring Mental and Alcohol Use Disorders
Access status:
Open Access
Type
Book chapterAuthor/s
Baillie, AndrewPham, James
Morley, Kirsten
Stapinski, Lexine
Mills, Katherine
Marel, Christina
Kay-Lambkin, Frances
Teesson, Maree
Abstract
Co-occurrence of mental and alcohol use disorders presents special challenges in the
treatment of people with alcohol problems.
Comorbid mental disorders are common among people with alcohol problems. In Australia, of
the 8841 people surveyed in 2007 for the National Survey ...
See moreCo-occurrence of mental and alcohol use disorders presents special challenges in the treatment of people with alcohol problems. Comorbid mental disorders are common among people with alcohol problems. In Australia, of the 8841 people surveyed in 2007 for the National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing, 2.9 per cent met the criteria for harmful alcohol use, and 1.4 per cent met the criteria for alcohol use disorder (AUD). Of this latter group half (53.6%) met the criteria for an anxiety disorder and one-third (34.0%) met the criteria for an affective or mood disorder (ABS 2008). Other disorders associated with alcohol use disorder include other substance use disorders. Conversely, among people with mental disorders, such as depression, 34% of men and 15% of women have concurrent alcohol use problems. Exposure to trauma (such as witnessing serious injury or death, being involved in a life-threatening incident, or being threatened with a weapon etc) is very common among people with an alcohol use disorder. While people with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are more than five times more likely to have an alcohol use disorder than people without PTSD only 5% of people with an AUD meet criteria for PTSD. Approximately one in five people with schizophrenia will have an alcohol use disorder at some time in their life. Thus, comorbid mental disorders are sufficiently common for their presence to be expected and their treatment planned for.
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See moreCo-occurrence of mental and alcohol use disorders presents special challenges in the treatment of people with alcohol problems. Comorbid mental disorders are common among people with alcohol problems. In Australia, of the 8841 people surveyed in 2007 for the National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing, 2.9 per cent met the criteria for harmful alcohol use, and 1.4 per cent met the criteria for alcohol use disorder (AUD). Of this latter group half (53.6%) met the criteria for an anxiety disorder and one-third (34.0%) met the criteria for an affective or mood disorder (ABS 2008). Other disorders associated with alcohol use disorder include other substance use disorders. Conversely, among people with mental disorders, such as depression, 34% of men and 15% of women have concurrent alcohol use problems. Exposure to trauma (such as witnessing serious injury or death, being involved in a life-threatening incident, or being threatened with a weapon etc) is very common among people with an alcohol use disorder. While people with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are more than five times more likely to have an alcohol use disorder than people without PTSD only 5% of people with an AUD meet criteria for PTSD. Approximately one in five people with schizophrenia will have an alcohol use disorder at some time in their life. Thus, comorbid mental disorders are sufficiently common for their presence to be expected and their treatment planned for.
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Date
2021Source title
Guidelines for the Treatment of Alcohol ProblemsPublisher
Specialty of Addiction Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of SydneyLicence
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0Rights statement
This work is copyright. You may download, display, print and reproduce this material in unaltered form only (retaining this notice) for your professional, non-commercial use or use within your organisation. All other rights are reserved. Requests and enquiries concerning use and reproduction should be addressed to the Specialty of Addiction Medicine, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.Faculty/School
Faculty of Medicine and Health, The Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance UseFaculty of Medicine and Health, Central Clinical School
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