Treating Substance Abuse, Mental Illness Together Cuts Aggression Risk

The interrelationships between severe mental illness, substance use, and aggression are of longstanding importance with implications for community treatment programs, treatment research and public policy.

Through the analysis of longitudinal data collected from 278 patients over a 6-month period following admission to an outpatient dual diagnosis treatment program, this study examined the association between dual diagnosis treatment attendance and subsequent aggression among individuals diagnosed with both a severe mental illness and a substance use disorder. We also tested substance use and psychiatric symptoms as mediators of this treatment–aggression relationship.

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