Dual Diagnosis — Substance Misuse and Schizophrenia

It has been estimated that approximately 32 per cent of people who suffer from schizophrenia use illicit substances (Menezes et al. , 1996) and up to 16 per cent drink alcohol to excess (Duke et al. , 1994). Such prevalence, despite being lifetime, is disproportionate to the general adult population of this country, and similarly the effects of substance misuse are also more pervading and immediate among those with psychosis. Such people, who are commonly referred to as having a ‘dual diagnosis’, have been shown to be more difficult for traditional mental health services to engage and deliver programmes of care to (Rorstad and Checinski, 1996; Lehman et al. , 1994; Smith and Hucker, 1993). These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.