How substance use affects people with mental illness

Article Abstract:

Researchers surveyed substance use in patients with severe mental illness. The mentally ill may be particularly attracted to substance use for the mental relief it offers. They found that 27% of the 225 admissions to a mental illness acute ward in Manchester, England, were due to drug, alcohol, or combined drug and alcohol use. They also collected data from staff working in hospital or community mental health services. Eighty-four per cent of the respondents reported experience of patients using illegal drugs. Many of these respondents felt inadequately trained to address substance use issues.

Drug use

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Assessment of the risks posed by people with mental illness

Article Abstract:

Nurses and psychiatrists have to make judgements about the dangers people with mental illness poses to themselves or others. Assessing the risk of harm to others is more difficult, particularly with the move to community care and open wards. A past history of violence, crime, and alcohol misuse appear to be common factors linked with violence and dangerousness, and risk prediction should be based on four main categories, dispositional, contextual, clinical and historical.

Safety and security measures

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Mental illness and substance abuse

Article Abstract:

A case study of a woman who began drinking heavily following the death of son in a road accident is presented. Early interventions proved ineffective, but more success was achieved when the family began to be treated as a whole unit. The model of care was established on a flexible basis, with the client's needs being catered for within a family context.

Case studies, Mental illness, Mental disorders

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