Inpatient treatment for substance use disorders: reductions in substance cravings, anxiety, and depressive symptoms

Abstract

ABSTRACT Background Despite high rates of co-occurrence between substance use disorder (SUD) and other mental disorders, outcomes research is limited for dual-diagnosis inpatient treatment programs. Specifically, few studies have investigated whether inpatient programming for SUD can also improve symptoms of mental distress. Therefore, the goals of the current study were to: 1) determine if inpatient programming for SUD yields improvements in substance craving severity, anxiety, and depressive symptoms, and 2) determine if anxiety and depressive symptoms are associated with substance craving severity upon admission into treatment. Methods The sample consisted of 279 adults with SUDs admitted to an inpatient treatment program. Standardized Likert-style measures were used to assess substance cravings, generalized anxiety, and depressive symptoms. Measures were administered pre-treatment at admission and post-treatment at time of discharge. Results Results indicated that there were significant decreases in participant scores on all measures between admission and discharge. Anxiety and depressive symptoms were both linked to greater substance cravings. Conclusions These findings suggest that treatment for SUD may also be associated with improvements in psychological functioning. As mental distress can may hinder SUD treatment outcomes, efforts should be made to identify these patterns at the time of admission to better inform treatment planning and predict outcomes.