Alcohol and other drugs and mental illness: can we fix it? Yes we can!

The Alcohol, Tobacco and other Drugs Council of Tasmania

MEDIA RELEASE

April 13, 2010

Alcohol and other drugs and mental illness: can we fix it? Yes we can!

The Alcohol, Tobacco and other Drugs Council is delighted to invite the Tasmanian media to The Challenges of Co-morbidity, a forum to help us understand co-morbidity – the co-occurrence of an alcohol, tobacco and other drug (ATOD) use disorder with one or more mental health conditions – and how we can better help people with co-occurring alcohol and other drug addictions and mental health problems.

Four internationally recognised experts will speak at the Forum:

· Professor Margaret Hamilton: Responding to multiple difficulties and deficits in people’s lives and in service systems.

· Professor Dan Lubman: Cannabis and mental health – what is the link?

· Professor Amanda Baker: Co-existing depression or anxiety and alcohol and drug problems: reasons for optimism.

· Barbara Hocking: Smoking and mental illness – common, overlooked and deadly – an Australian overview and outline of cessation activities for people with mental illness.

Use of the term ‘co-morbidity’ for the alcohol, tobacco or other drug sector has come to mean the co-occurrence of an ATOD use disorder with one or more mental health conditions. There are a number of possible explanations as to why two or more disorders may co-occur. It is most likely that the relationship is one of mutual influence.

Just how common is co-morbidity among clients of ATOD services? Some estimates indicate that 37% of people who have an ATOD-use disorder have at least one co-occurring mental health disorder: that is, around half a million Australians. This high rate means that ATOD workers are faced with the need to manage in many clients a range of complex psychiatric symptoms or problems, which interferes with their ability to successfully treat their ATOD use. Clients with co-morbidity present a more difficult and severe clinical profile, and thus present a greater burden on already strained treatment agencies.

Of course, it is not only ATOD workers who must cope with this; co-morbid mental health conditions place an enormous strain on people’s families and loved ones, both emotionally and financially. Other harms associated with co-morbidity include: poorer physical health; poorer social and occupational functioning; more severe drug use; increase risk of suicide; poorer mental health; increased homelessness; and an increased risk of violence. In light of this knowledge, effectively identifying and treating those people affected by co-morbidity is vital.

When: Friday, April 16, 2010
Time: 8.30 am – 3 pm
Where: Hotel Grand Chancellor, Hobart
The Alcohol, Tobacco and other Drugs Council of Tasmania