The relationship between symptoms of common mental disorders and drug and alcohol misuse among persons seeking an HIV test

ABSTRACT

We studied 500 South Africans who sought an HIV test in a community outreach setting. On average, both men and women in the sample indicated hazardous and harmful alcohol use, as well as possible alcohol dependence. Men but not women among the sample experienced drug-related problems. Men were 1.64 times more likely than females to report problematic alcohol use and 4.88 times more likely than females to report drug use. Symptoms of posttraumatic stress, anxiety, and depression significantly explained 16.5% of the variance in alcohol misuse. Symptoms of posttraumatic stress significantly explained 23.5% of the variance in drug use. Implications are explored in the context of HIV testing.

KEYWORDS:

• HIV testing
• mental health
• alcohol use
• substance use

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the following persons who assisted with data collection for this research: Laing De Vlilliers, Mpho Sefatsa, Simona Flavio, Carla Nortje, Daniel Goldstone, Camilla Rankin, and Xanthe Hunt.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Research Foundation [grant number 93515].