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Recognition of Comorbid Psychopathology by Staff of a Drug Detoxification Unit
Author(s) -
Craig Thomas J.,
DiBuono Mark
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
the american journal on addictions
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.997
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1521-0391
pISSN - 1055-0496
DOI - 10.1111/j.1521-0391.1996.tb00287.x
Subject(s) - psychopathology , psychiatry , comorbidity , detoxification (alternative medicine) , medicine , unit (ring theory) , drug , clinical psychology , psychology , alternative medicine , mathematics education , pathology
The authors assessed the ability of the clinical staff of a 22‐bed drug detoxification unit to recognize comorbid general psychopathology by comparing the results of a psychiatric evaluation with a consecutive series (n = 131) of patients referred for consultation with a random sample (n = 91) of admissions not referred. Eighty‐four percent of the referred patients met DSM‐III‐R criteria for comorbid Axis I or Axis II condition as compared with 21% of the random sample. However, given that only 20% of all admissions are referred for psychiatric consultation, these findings suggest that a substantial proportion of admissions with comorbid psychiatric conditions go unrecognized in this setting, and they underscore the need for staff education in the recognition of comorbidity in the face of managed‐care initiatives.