title: Unlinking disability income, substance use and adverse outcomes in dually diagnosed, severely mentally ill outpatients.
abstract: The goals of the current study were to determine whether incorporating disability benefit management into combined outpatient psychiatric/addiction treatment was feasible and clinically useful for managing severely mentally ill, substance-abusing patients over time, and then if patients in this program would demonstrate the first-week-of-the-month increased substance abuse and hospitalizations shown in other studies. Forty-four patients were studied for an average of forty weeks, with little treatment or study dropout. There was no evidence in either the schizophrenic/cocaine abuser or the broader diagnostic sample of the cyclic first-of-the-month pattern of substance use and hospitalizations observed in other studies. Findings suggest that combined treatment/benefit management programs are clinically feasible and effective in stabilizing patients and keeping them in treatment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA 98107, USA. rries@u.washington.edu
authors.forename: Richard K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Ries
authors.forename: Robert A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Short
authors.forename: Dennis G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Dyck
authors.forename: Debra S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Srebnik
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000553:Ambulatory Care; D019970:Cocaine-Related Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy; D017831:Diagnosis, Dual (Psychiatry); D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007342:Insurance Benefits / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods*; D018868:Insurance, Disability / Q000191:economics; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy*; D010349:Patient Compliance; D010352:Patient Dropouts / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019727:Proxy; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy; D055502:Secondary Prevention; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy*; D016896:Treatment Outcome