Substance abuse and recovery in a Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study is to compare the development in symptoms, behaviors, function and treatment between patients with or without a substance use (SU) diagnose in a Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU).


METHODS
A total of 118 admitted patients were assessed at admittance, day 3 and discharge from the PICU. Symptoms of psychopathology, therapeutic steps taken, violent episodes and length of patient stay were recorded.


RESULTS
More males than females received an SU diagnosis. Substance use patients had less psychiatric symptoms at admittance and showed a faster symptom reduction, more favorable and faster improvement of function and a shorter length of stay. Except for symptom reduction and shorter length of stay, these differences were largely due to differences in sex and diagnoses in the two groups.


CONCLUSIONS
In a naturalistic group of patients in a PICU, SU is associated with favorable outcomes compared to patients not using substances.
Vaaler
Arne E
AE
Department of Neuroscience, Faculty of Medicine, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, N-7006 Trondheim, Norway. arne.e.vaaler@ntnu.no
Morken
Gunnar
G
Fløvig
John Chr
JC
Iversen
Valentina C
VC
Linaker
Olav M
OM
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units; D007902:Length of Stay; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011567:Psychiatric Department, Hospital; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D016896:Treatment Outcome