Antecedents, Severity of Abuse, and Response to Treatment in Substance-Abusing Schizophrenic Individuals

The authors assessed the characteristics of disadvantaged, dually diagnosed schizophrenic individuals, antecedents of their substance abuse, and their treatment outcome. Forty hospitalized inpatients wee evaluated. When daily users were compared with less frequent users, differences were found in measures of parental substance abuse. Frequency of drug use did not discriminate between the two groups on admission or discharge. However, treatment response, as measured ly Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale scores, improved significantly in both groups.