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Objectives: To analyse the differences between nurses with and without substance use disorders (SUDs) admitted to a specialised mental health programme., Design: Retrospective, observational study., Setting: Specialised mental health treatment programme for nurses in Catalonia, Spain., Participants: 1091 nurses admitted to the programme from 2000 to 2021., Interventions: None., Primary and Secondary Outcomes: Sociodemographic, occupational and clinical variables were analysed. Diagnoses followed Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition, Text Revision criteria., Results: Most nurses admitted to the programme were women (88%, n=960) and came voluntarily (92.1%, n=1005). The mean age at admission was 45 (SD=10.4) years. The most common diagnoses were adjustment disorders (36.6%, n=399), unipolar mood disorders (25.8%, n=282), anxiety disorders (16.4%, n=179) and SUDs (13.8%, n=151). Only 19.2% (n=209) of the sample were hospitalised during their first treatment episode. After multivariate analysis, suffering from a SUD was significantly associated with being a man (OR=4.12; 95% CI 2.49 to 6.82), coming after a directed referral (OR=4.55; 95% CI 2.5 to 7.69), being on sick leave at admission (OR=2.21; 95% CI 1.42 to 3.45) and needing hospitalisation at the beginning of their treatment (OR=12.5; 95% CI 8.3 to 20)., Conclusions: Nurses with SUDs have greater resistance to voluntarily asking for help from specialised mental health treatment programmes and have greater clinical severity compared with those without addictions. SUDs are also more frequent among men. More actions are needed to help prevent and promote earlier help-seeking behaviours among nurses with this type of mental disorder., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2024. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Introduction: The impact of psychiatric comorbidity and addiction features throughout the course of addiction has been widely studied. This is a naturalistic study conducted in an outpatient unit, where treatment follow-up studies are scarce compared to studies including inpatients or those under experimental conditions. Therefore, this follow-up study aims to analyze the treatment adherence and abstinence of outpatients with SUD (Substance Use Disorders) according to addiction severity and psychiatric comorbidity., Methods: The current six-month follow-up study examined 404 SUD outpatients. Psychiatric comorbidity, addiction severity, substance consumption and treatment adherence were systematically evaluated using semistructured interviews. Survival analyses were conducted to compare the time of treatment adherence and abstinence in a bivariate and multivariate level., Results: A progressive dropout was observed, reaching 32.2% of dropouts at the six-month follow-up. More than 50% achieved abstinence during the first month and similar percentages were found until the six-month follow-up. At the multivariate level, treatment adherence, cannabis use disorder and polyconsumption were independently associated with earlier dropout. ADHD was the only mental disorder significantly related with dropout. Regarding substance consumption, the time of abstinence was independently associated with months of treatment adherence and the achievement of abstinence before starting treatment. In general, dual diagnosis was associated with less time of abstinence, but only depressive disorder across the lifespan was related to less time of abstinence in the multivariate model., Conclusion: These findings highlight the importance of an accurate diagnosis at the beginning of treatment, especially in an outpatient setting, addressing the treatment needs and promoting strategies that improve treatment adherence and reduce the risk of relapses., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Psychiatric comorbidity can negatively impact the course of addictions. Psychiatric features of patients who continued treatment after the first stage of an addiction program have not been sufficiently analysed. Therefore, only these patients were included in order to compare psychiatric comorbidity and clinical factors between patients who were able or not to complete a long term substance-free program. Treatment-completion status of 245 patients was systematically recorded. Addiction severity, psychiatry comorbidity, and psychological symptoms were evaluated. No significant differences were found regarding comorbid psychiatric diagnoses and the completion of the treatment. Longer treatment duration (OR: 1.22; p < 0.01), higher educational level (OR: 2.37; p = 0.02), and cocaine dependence as main substance (OR: 3.68; p < 0.01) were found to be related to increased likelihood in completing the treatment. Patients with higher severity of alcohol consumption (OR: 0.06; p = 0.02) and more depressive symptoms (OR: 0.95; p = 0.01) completed the treatment less frequently. Moreover, differences regarding employment problems, treatment facilities, anxiety symptoms, dysfunctional impulsivity, and mental HRQoL were found. It is concluded that comorbid psychiatric diagnoses do not determine treatment outcomes. However, therapeutic and psychological factors have a major influence on the likelihood to complete a long-term treatment program., (Copyright © 2019. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Objectives: Episodes of agitation are frequent in intoxicated patients who have a substance use disorder, a psychiatric disorder or both (dual diagnosis). For managing the agitation, it is necessary to act promptly in a safe environment and addressing any underlying etiology. Inhaled loxapine improves symptoms of agitation in adults with psychiatric disorders (eg, schizophrenia) within 10 minutes of administration. Recently, some reports have documented the usefulness of loxapine in dual diagnoses patients with agitation. However, the efficacy of loxapine in intoxicated patients has not been deeply addressed., Methods: This report describes a case series of 12 patients (with addiction or dual disorder) who received inhaled loxapine for symptoms of psychomotor agitation during intoxication with different substances (eg, alcohol, cannabis, or cocaine) at 1 center in Spain., Results: Data from 12 patients were reviewed, 5 patients were attended at the emergency room, 4 at the addiction and dual diagnosis unit, and 3 were treated during hospitalization for detoxification. All patients were under effects of substances. They had substance use disorder (including cannabis, cocaine, alcohol, hypnotics, and hallucinogens), and almost all (90%) presented 1 or more psychiatric disorders. One dose of inhaled loxapine was effective in 9 patients (75%), and in 3 patients, a second dose was required. Only mild dizziness was reported in 1 patient after the second dose., Conclusions: The acute agitation was effectively and quickly managed with inhaled loxapine in all intoxicated patients and enabled the appropriate clinical evaluation of the agitated state and the patient's management.

The comorbidity between substance-use disorders and borderline personality disorder (SUD-BPD) with other psychiatric disorders has been little studied. A total of 937 drug-dependent patients were evaluated using semistructured interviews and 13.7% were SUD-BPD patients. After multivariate analysis, gender, Affective Disorder (OR 2.59), Anxiety Disorder (OR 1.90), Eating Disorders (OR 4.29), Cocaine (OR 2.16), benzodiazepine dependence (OR 1.90), early age of onset of drug consumption (OR 0.94), and dependent (OR 4.04), paranoid (OR 3.70) and antisocial personality disorders (OR 3.46) were associated with SUD-BPD. Several psychiatric comorbidities are the norm in SUD-BPD patients; therefore these patients are a challenge for clinicians.

Opioid-dependent patients show a high rate of psychiatric comorbidities. The prevalence and characteristics of patients with dual diagnosis have not been well established in Spanish opioid agonist treatment (OAT) programmes. Thus, 621 opioid-dependent patients enrolled in OAT programmes were assessed, using the EuropASI questionnaire, for psychiatric comorbidities, which were detected in 67% of patients (anxiety 53%, mood disorders 48%, sleep disorders 41%, substance-related disorders 36%). In addition, compared with patients without a dual diagnosis, patients with dual pathology were significantly older, used benzodiazepines and cannabis in significantly greater percentages, and showed significantly more frequent infectious and non-infectious comorbidities, worse overall working status, a lower proportion of drivers and higher levels of severity regarding medical, employment, alcohol, legal, family and psychological issues. Therefore, the data showed a very high prevalence of psychiatric comorbidity in opioid-dependent patients receiving OAT in Spain and several problems frequently associated with patients with dual diagnosis. Physicians treating opioid-dependent patients should be aware of these facts to correctly identify and manage patients with a dual diagnosis., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: The relationship among labor difficulties and psychiatric disorders is important and bidirectional. However, current information about the influence of psychiatric disorders in temporary work disability in Spain is inconclusive. For this reason, we aimed to describe the prevalence of the conclusions of psychiatric expert&#8217;s reports including maintain o revoke the temporary disability (TD). We also aimed to compare sociodemographic, clinical and therapeutic variables according with the decision of maintain or revoke this condition., Methodology: A descriptive study was conducted in psychiatric patients that were examined by psychiatric experts during one year. At the examination time, the patients had a sick leave mean of 5 months. The psychiatric experts assessed their ability to work according to the interference of the psychiatric symptoms., Results: A total of 380 patients were included (66.8% women, 42±10.9 years), 87.9% had a result of revoke the temporary work disability. No sociodemographic or therapeutic factors were associated with the continuity of sick leave. The most common diagnosis of patients who obtained a revoked temporary work disability was adjustment disorder (66.2% vs 13%, p=0.001) and patients who maintained the temporary work disability was major depressive disorder (45.7% vs 3.9%, p=0.001)., Conclusions: After a psychiatric expert&#8217;s examination the most of the results suggest to revoke the temporary work disability. Major depressive disorder is the most commonly diagnostic associated to continue sick leave.

Sexual, emotional or physical abuse history is a risk factor for mental disorders in addicted patients. However, the relationship between addiction and abuse lifespan is not well known. This study aims to compare clinical and psychopathological features of addicted patients according to the experience of abuse and to the number of different types of abuse suffered. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were conducted. 512 addicted patients seeking treatment were included, 45.9% reported abuse throughout life (38.9% emotional, 22.3% physical and 13.5% sexual abuse). It was found that female gender; depressive symptoms and borderline personality disorder were independently associated with history of any abuse throughout life. As well, it was found that 14% have been suffered from all three types of abuse (sexual, emotional and physical), 34.5% from two and 55.5% from one type. Female gender and borderline personality disorder were independently associated independently with a greater number of different types of abuse. Results suggest that history of abuse is frequent among substance-dependent patients and these experiences are more prevalent in women and are associated with more psychiatric comorbidity., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: To quantify the number of medications used for treating psychiatric and addictive disorders in a cohort of dual diagnosis with substance dependence outpatients and report the most frequent pharmacological groups used., Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted. Demographic data, Axis I comorbidity diagnosis with substance dependence, and the medications prescribed were recorded. Diagnosis was assessed by the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID)., Results: One hundred seven patients (mean age 37.7 years; SD = 10.2 years) were evaluated (76.6% men). On average, patients took 4.0 (SD = 1.8) medications. The pharmacological groups prescribed were antipsychotics (69.2%) followed by antidepressants (65.4%), antiepileptics (58.9%), anxiolytics (37.4%), alcohol-aversive drugs (15.9%), methadone (15.9%), lithium (3.7%), and naltrexone (2.8%). Older patients (>45 years old) were found to have a higher number of prescribed medications. Patients diagnosed with a dual psychotic disorder were prescribed a larger number of pharmacological agents (mean = 4.4; SD = 2.1) than patients with a mood disorder (mean = 3.7; SD = 1.3) or an anxiety disorder (mean = 2.9; SD = 1.2), K = 10.5, P = 0.005., Conclusions: Because polypharmacy is frequent in patients with mental illness and a co-occurring substance use disorder, specialized approaches need to be developed.

Objective: Since provision of integrated services for patients with dual pathology or dual disorders (coexistence of an addictive disorder and another mental health disorder) is an important challenge in mental health, this study assessed health care professionals' perceptions and knowledge of the current state of specific resources for patients with dual pathology in Spain., Methods: We conducted a national survey of health care professionals seeing patients with dual pathology in treatment facilities throughout Spain. Participants completed a specific online questionnaire about the needs of and available resources for patients with dual pathology., Results: A total of 659 professionals, mostly psychologists (n = 286, 43.4%) or psychiatrists (n = 217, 32.9%), participated in the study. Nearly all participants who responded to these items reported that specific resources for dual pathology were needed (n = 592/635, 93.2%); 76.7% (n = 487) identified intermediate resources, 68.8% (n = 437) acute detoxification units, and 64.6% (n = 410) medium-stay rehabilitation units as particularly necessary. In the opinion of 54.0% of respondents (n = 343), integrated mental health and addiction treatment services were available. Of the participants who answered these items, only a small proportion (n = 162/605, 26.8%) reported that there were appropriate outpatient programs for dual pathology, 30.4% (n = 184/605) specific hospitalization units, 16.9% (n = 99/587) subacute inpatient units, 34.2% (n = 201/587) outpatient intermediate resources, 15.5% (n = 91/587) day hospitals, and 21.5% (n = 126/587) day centers. Conversely, 62.5% (n = 378/587) of participants reported a greater presence of specific detoxification/withdrawal units, 47.3% (n = 286/587) psychiatric acute admission units, and 41.9% (n = 246/587) therapeutic communities. In the professionals' opinion, the presence of specialty programs was low; 11.6% of respondents (n = 68/587) reported that vocational programs and 16.7% (n = 98/587) reported that occupational rehabilitation programs were available. Employee turnover was common: 51.9% of respondents (n = 314/605) stated that employee turnover was occasional to frequent., Conclusions: According to the professionals surveyed, specific health care resources for the management of dual pathology are currently insufficient, underlining the need for additional efforts and strategies for treating individuals with comorbid disorders.