Videos

Philip D. James, Clinical Nurse Specialist in Child & Adolescent Substance Misue, YoDA Service.

Rates of Psychiatric Diagnosis among clients attending and adolescent substance abuse service in Dublin.

Dual diagnosis in the presence of both a psychiatric and a substance abuse disorder in the same client. International research suggests thats this is common. A study in the USA among 91 teenagers attending a residential substance abuse programme found 64% had a concurrent mental health problem with conduct disorder (24%), depression (24%), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (11%) and Adjustment Disorder (7.7%) the most frequent (Wise, Cuffe & Fischer, 2001). Estimates suggest that 50-90% of teenagers with a substance use problem have a concurrent mental health problem (Solhkhah, 2003). No research has yet examined levels of co-morbidy among teenagers attending services in Ireland.

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