Abstract
Despite our increasing knowledge of the complexity of concurrent disorders the majority of research has involved either institutionalized or specific clinical populations and there have been limited opportunities to directly examine issues at the community level particularly if any differences exist between women and men. Using four standardized instruments, 150 male and 150 female community-based consumer-survivors in the London, Ontario area were interviewed. Eight focus group sessions including 65 individuals were also conducted. Differences between male and female respondents included primary diagnosis, history of family mental illness, family substance abuse, social supports and problematic parental substance abuse. While the overall level of functioning was similar for both sexes, men reported more problems with substance use while women reported a greater overall problem severity. Surprising was the lack of importance of substance abuse issues in respondents’ lives, particularly among focus group members as only four comments regarding substance abuse were made in over 10 h of dialogue. The findings support the belief that specific services by sex are required for this population though the likelihood of attending such programs would be increased if rudimentary income, housing and transportation needs were addressed.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Berstein, J., Fink, L., Handelsman, L., Foote, J., Lovejoy, M., & Wenzel, D., et al. (1994). Initial reliability and validity of a new retrospective measure of child abuse and neglect. American Journal of Psychiatry, 151(8), 1132–1136.
Booth, B., Curran, G., & Han, X. (2004). Predictors of short-term course of drinking in untreated rural and urban at-risk drinkers: Effects of gender, illegal drug use and psychiatric comorbidity. Journal of Studies in Alcohol, 65(1), 63–73.
British Colombia Inter-ministry Task Group (1999). Meeting the challenge of serious mental illness and substance misuse. Vancouver: Riverview Hospital.
Browne, G., Arpin, K., Corey, P., Fitch, M., & Gafni, A. (1990). Individual correlates of health services utilization and the cost of poor adjustment to chronic illness. Medical Care, 28(1), 43–58.
Brunette, M., & Drake, R. (1998). Gender differences in homeless persons with schizophrenia and substance abuse. Community Mental Health Journal, 34(6), 627–642.
Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse (2000). Directory of substance abuses organizations in Canada 2000. Ottawa: CCSA.
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (2001). Best practices: Concurrent mental health and substance use disorders. Ottawa: Health Canada.
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health & Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse (2001). National program inventory: Concurrent mental health and substance use disorders. Ottawa: Health Canada.
Comité permanent de lutte à la toxicomanie (1997). Avis sur la double problématique toxicomanie et problèmes de santé mentale. Présenté au ministre de la Santé et des Services sociaux. Montréal.
Comité permanent de lutte à la toxicomanie (2000). Drogues, alcool et toxicomanie au Québec, des inquiétudes à l’action. Rapport au ministre de la Santé et des Services Sociaux. Montréal.
Drake, R. E., Osher, F. C., & Wallach, M. A. (1991). Homelessness and dual diagnosis. American Psychologist, 46(11), 1149–1158.
Ellis, R., Wackwitz, J. & Foster, M. (1996). Treatment outcomes using level of functioning and independent measures of change: An alternate approach for measurement of change. Decision Support Services, Colorado Department of Mental Health.
Forchuk, C., Thames Valley District Health Council, Essex Kent Lambton District Health Council, Grey Bruce Huron Perth District Health Council, Waterloo Region Wellington Dufferin District Health Council, Cline, B., et al. (2002). Mental health and housing: Family and consumer perspectives. Journal of Urban Health, 79(4), S89–S90 (Supplement 1).
Forchuk, C., Ward-Griffin, C., Csiernik, R., & Turner, K. (2006). Surviving the tornado: Psychiatric survivor experiences of getting, losing and keeping housing. Psychiatric Services.
Frye, M., Altshuler, L., McElroy, S., Suppes, T., Keck, P., & Denicoff, K., et al. (2003). Gender differences in prevalence, risk, and clinical correlates of alcoholism comorbidity in bipolar disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry, 160(5), 883–889.
Gilder, D., Wall, T., & Ehlers, C. (2004). Comorbidity of select anxiety and affective disorders with alcohol dependence in southwest California Indians. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 28(12), 1805–1813.
Grella, C. (1996). Background and overview of mental health and substance abuse treatment systems: Meeting the needs of women who are pregnant or parenting. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 28(4), 319–343.
Hanna, E., & Grant, B. (1997). Gender differences in DSM-IV alcohol use disorders and major depression as distributed in the general population: Clinical implications. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 38(4), 202–212.
Helzer, J., & Pryzbeck, T. (1988). The co-occurrence of alcoholism and other psychiatric disorders on the general population and its impact on treatment. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 49, 219–224.
Kessler, R. C., Nelson, C. B., McGonagle, K. A., Edlund, M. J., Frank, R. G., & Leaf, P. J. (1996). The epidemiology of co-occurring addictive and mental disorders: Implications of prevention and service utilization. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 66, 17–31.
King, G., & Currie, M. (2002). Measuring the impact of community–university research partnerships. London, Ontario: Research Alliance for Children with Special Needs.
Lehman, A., Postrado, L., & Rachuba, L. (1993). Convergent validation of life assessments for persons with severe mental illnesses. Quality of Life Research, 2(5), 327–333.
Mandersheid, R. W., & Rosenstein, M. J. (1992). Homeless persons with mental illness and alcohol or other drug abuse: Current research, policy, and prospects. Current Opinion in Psychiatry, 5, 273–278.
Neuendorf, K. (2002). The content analysis guidebook. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications.
Ontario Ministry of Health (1999). Making it happen. Integrated Policy and Planning Division, and Mental Health System Management, Toronto, Ontario Ministry of Health.
Reiger, D. A., Farmer, M. E., & Rae, D. S. (1990). Co-morbidity of mental disorders with alcohol and other drug abuse. Results from the Epidemiological Catchment Area (ECA) study. Journal of American Medical Association, 264, 2511–2518.
Ross, H. (1995). DSM-III-R alcohol abuse and dependence and psychiatric co-morbidity in Ontario: Results from the Mental Health Supplement to the Ontario Health Survey. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 39, 111–128.
Sinha, R., & Rounsaville, B. (2002). Sex differences in depressed substance abusers. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 63(7), 616–627.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Csiernik, R. Is Substance Abuse an Issue? Perceptions of Male and Female Community-Based Mental Health System Consumer-Survivors. Int J Ment Health Addiction 5, 29–37 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-006-9041-9
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-006-9041-9