Treatment issues with substance use disorder clients who have mood or anxiety disorders

Abstract

Background: Co-occurring substance use and mental health disorders may complicate the impact of treatment. Oftentimes, substance treatment practitioners are not prepared to deal with both issues and may focus primarily on substance use disorders while the untreated mental health issues dilute treatment effectiveness. Research has yet to identify an effective treatment approach for clients with more severe substance use and less severe mental health problems.

Aims: To review the treatment literature and uncover the evidence base for clients who have more severe substance use and less severe mental health problems.

Method: The research literature was reviewed for studies that evaluated treatment or services for clients with substance use disorders and mood or anxiety disorders. The focus was on studies of clients with more severe substance use and less severe mental health problems.

Results: We identified 45 studies that met our criteria for inclusion and reviewed them for common themes and variations.

Conclusion: Based on this review of literature, the evidence supports concurrent or integrated treatment for clients with co-occurring substance use and mood or anxiety disorders. Substance treatment practitioners should anticipate that many of their clients have co-occurring disorders, screen for these, and plan on providing comprehensive treatment.

Keywords:

• substance use disorder
• co-occurring
• mental health
• treatment