Substance use disorders and other addictions - Comorbidities

Many psychiatric disorders are more frequently observed in patients with substance-use disorders than in the general population, including mood disorders, anxiety, PTSD, and schizophrenia and psychotic disorders. This slide deck discusses in detail the presence of comorbidity in substance use disorders and other addiction.

This slide deck has been developed by Professor Celia Morgan, University of Exeter and Professor David Nutt, Imperial College, in collaboration with Cambridge Medical – A Prime Global agency.

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Comorbidities

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Introduction

Substance-induced versus independently occurring disorders

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Psychiatric comorbidities of addiction

The phenomenon of comorbidity is common in psychiatry – defined as the presence of two or more psychological/psychiatric conditions in one individual.^[1,2,3] Psychiatric comorbidity is common in addiction,…

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Possible relationships between addiction and comorbidities

The relationships between substance use and substance-use disorders and comorbid mental disorders are complex, and are therefore difficult to examine in studies. Clinically, the two important questions to consider regarding the co-occurrence of two disorders in one patient are: firstly,…

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Introduction

Given the impact that comorbidities can have on substance-use disorder, and vice versa, this analysis attempted to interrogate these interactions by comparing the co-occurrences of independent and addiction-dependent disorder among a population of users of illicit substances.^{[

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The US NESARC survey – risk of psychiatric comorbidities

Results from across the NESARC datasets show consistent results – that comorbidity is common in patients with substance-use disorders.^[2] However, individual relationships between specific comorbidities are complex.^[2] When the data were adjusted…

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Mental illness, substance use disorders and other addictions

Mental illness, substance use disorders and other addictions

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Mood disorders

A systematic review investigated substance use as a risk factor for developing bipolar disorder.^[6] The review found broad support that many different substances (including cannabis, nicotine, and alcohol) increase the incidence of bipolar disorder.^[

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Anxiety disorders

Researchers used data from the Australian National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing, a household survey including 8,841 Australians aged 16–85 years old, to study the comorbidities of substance-use disorder and anxiety disorders.^[4] The 12-month prevalence…

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Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

The relationship between substance-use disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is complex, i.e., bidirectional and with other mediating interconnected risk factors.^[1,2] However, it is a difficult relationship to study, partly due to…

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Schizophrenia and psychotic disorders

As outlined on the slide, many substances interact with the dopamine system of the brain, as well as with other neurotransmitter systems, dysregulation of which may lead to psychotic symptoms or schizophrenia.^[1] It has been proposed…

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