Comorbidity Discussions
in the Addiction and Mental Health Circles
Press Release Dec. 2010
An important topic of discussions among Patients,
families and healthcare professionals has been comorbidity
of ADHD and drug abuse and the causes of each and
their effects on each other.
Comorbidity is described as when two disorders or
illnesses occur in the same person, simultaneously
or sequentially. Also, interactions between the
illnesses that affect the course and prognosis of
two simultaneous or sequential disorders also are
described as comorbidity. It has been known for
years that there is co-occurring illnesses with
drug addiction. In many cases drug and alcohol
addicts suffer from HIV, hepatitis C, cardiovascular
disease and even cancer.
It is not to say that drug addiction
or alcoholism brings about, for
example, HIV. But the fact that HIV is present
in many hardcore drug addicts and abusers compels
the health care professional to look for the other
when one of these illnesses is present.
NIDA has put disease comorbidity on its top research
priority, hoping to provide the needed information
to states and the science community in general.
In one report, NIDA has specifically focused on
comorbidity of drug use disorders (abuse or dependence)
and other mental illnesses.
One such area that the presence of comorbidity
has been documented is in the sequential occurrence
of childhood ADHD and the presence of drug abuse
later in life. Even though studies have pointed
to comorbidity of childhood ADHD and drug abuse,
many suggest that only a subset of children with
ADHD will develop drug addiction in later life.
In order to highlight the importance of understanding
comorbidity, one can point to the fact that, for
example, once comorbidity between ADHD and drug
use disorders is established, then the next step
could be determining if effective treatment of
ADHD at childhood will result in prevention of
subsequent drug abuse and its associated behavioral
problems later in life.
Another benefit in understanding illnesses comorbidity
is answering the question of whether high prevalence
of comorbidity between two disorders means that
one caused the other, even if one appeared first.
In case of drug abuse and ADHD, it was proven
that neither is the cause of the other.
Another example is comorbid drug use disorder
and mental illness. Once this relation was established,
the drug and alcohol treatment centers included
both disorders in their treatment plans.
In conclusion, understanding the comorbidity
of diseases such as addiction and mental health
issues provide us with important clues to understand
those diseases and to make advances in treating
them.
Reach out to us. Recovery from addiction is just a click or a phone call away.
If the information you are looking for is not found here and you need immediate
attention you may contact us:
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