The Psychiatric clinics of North America
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Psychiatr. Clin. North Am. · Dec 1993
Review Case ReportsDifferential diagnosis and psychopharmacology of dual disorders.
There are multiple potential interactions of substances of abuse with psychiatric illnesses. The individual agents, the stage of abuse, withdrawal, or recovery, and the patient's psychiatric illness must be considered as an integrated whole to ascertain the appropriate interventions. Polysubstance abuse can cause still more complicated interactions. ⋯ Greater efforts are needed to focus equal energy on diagnosis and treatment of chemical-dependency disorders in "psychiatric" populations. Many studies show that physicians neglect to collect adequate information and are not sufficiently aggressive in referring patients to chemical dependence treatment programs. By combining knowledge and appropriate therapeutic interventions from both psychiatric and addiction treatment fields, the needs of the dually diagnosed patient can be met more adequately.