Northeast > Resources > Topic Specific > National Prevention Resources and Policies > Resources addressing substance abuse and mental health disorders

I often hear people talk about youth with co-occurring substance abuse and mental health disorders. Where can I find information about this issue, its prevention, and its treatment?

There is strong evidence that a relationship exists between substance abuse and mental health problems for children and adolescents. This FAQ presents a list of selected publications available online that address this relationship, as well as information on its prevention and treatment.

Blamed and Ashamed: The Treatment Experience of Youth with Co-occurring Substance Abuse and Mental Health Disorders and Their Families
Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health and Keys for Networking, Inc. (FFCMH).

This report presents the findings of a two-year project intended to document and summarize the experiences of youth with co-occurring mental health and substance abuse problems and their families. The purposes of this study were to offer youth and their families the opportunity to reflect on and give voice to their experiences, to identify their successes and concerns, and to formulate recommendations so that a national audience might learn from their experience and improve services.

Report to Congress on the Prevention and Treatment of Co-occurring Substance Abuse Disorders and Mental Health Disorders
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (USDHHS/SAMHSA) Available at: http://www.samhsa.gov/reports/congress2002/index.html.

This report, prepared by SAMHSA, aims to identify and describe the current status of services for people with co-occurring substance abuse disorders and mental disorders, as well as to facilitate the coordination and appropriate integration of treatment services to meet the special needs of this population. This report includes both underlying guiding principles and a plan for SAMHSA to guide action at the National, State and local levels to redress current weaknesses and enhance strengths in accountability, capacity, and effectiveness of treatment and prevention services for people with co-occurring substance abuse disorders and mental disorders.

The authors of this article discuss the development of clinical understanding of dual diagnosis since the 1980s, commentating on an article written by Dr. Lehman and others on dual diagnosis. Four perspectives on dual diagnosis-medical, moralistic, psychosocial risk, and phenomenological are presented. The authors argue that the emphasis on diagnosis and illness may have delayed the development of public policies and programs to address risks for substance abuse inhering in social and environmental settings, such as housing shortages and lack of employment opportunities.

This publication, a CSAT Treatment Improvement Protocols (TIPs), provides practical information about the treatment of patients with dual disorders, including the treatment of alcohol and other drug abuse patients with mood and anxiety disorders, personality disorders, and psychotic disorders. It also provides pragmatic information about systems and linkage issues relative to the alcohol and other drug and mental health treatment systems. There is also a discussion about pharmacologic management of patients with dual disorders.

This report presents the discussion held at the National Dialogue on Co-occurring Mental Health and Substance Abuse Disorders Conference on June 16-17, 1998. This conference offered participants, including State mental health commissioners, alcohol and drug abuse directors, expert panelists, and Federal officials an opportunity to address this critical issue. The dialogue at this meeting, the basis of this White Paper, exemplified a broad spectrum of treatment, administrative, and funding arrangements.

This working paper provides data showing the relationship between the emotional state, health and behaviors and alcohol use. The report uses data from the 1994, 1995, and 1996 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse to examine correlations of frequency of alcohol use with problems. The analysis provides some evidence that an increase in the amount consumed is associated with problem behaviors.