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• Roughly 50 percent of individuals with severe mental
disorders are affected by substance abuse.

• Adults with a substance use disorder in 2002 were almost three
times as likely to have serious mental illness (20.4 percent) as
those who did not have a substance use disorder (7.0 percent),
according to a 2003 report from the Substance Abuse and
Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

• 37% of alcohol abusers and 53% of drug abusers also have at
least one serious mental illness.

Additionally, The National Institute of Mental Health has sponsored
two of the research studies on the groups most commonly affected by
substance abuse.
• 10 million Americans are affected by a dual-diagnosis disorder
each year.

• 56% of individuals with a bipolar disorder (Manic depressive
illness) abuse substances

• 47% of individuals with a schizophrenic disorder abuse
substances

• 32% of individuals with a mood disorder other than bipolar
abuse substances

• 27% of individuals with an anxiety disorder abuse substances.”

These large percentages look very different from an overall 15% of
substance abuse disorders in the general population.

A central question about dual diagnosis is which came fist – the
substance abuse or the psychiatric disorder? Research has shown that
it can go either way.. Often the psychiatric problem develops first. In
an attempt to feel calmer, more energized and alert, or more joyful, a
person with emotional problems may use drugs or drink to self
medicate. Frequent self-medication may eventually lead to a
dependency on alcohol or drugs. If it does, the person then suffers