Women with Co-Occurring Serious Mental Illness (SMI) and a Substance Use Disorder

Compared with men, women with co-occurring mental and substance use disorders were more likely to seek help in mental health and outpatient settings, have poorer job skills, and suffer from serious physical health problems.

In Brief

• In 2002, nearly 2 million women aged 18 or older were estimated to have both serious mental illness (SMI) and a substance use disorder during the past year
• Women with co-occurring SMI and a substance use disorder were less likely to be employed full-time than women with a substance use disorder only
• Women with co-occurring SMI and a substance use disorder were more likely than men with co-occurring SMI and a substance use disorder to have received treatment for a mental disorder and/or specialty substance use treatment during the past year

Recent research has found that women admitted to substance abuse treatment with co-occurring psychiatric and substance use disorders were less likely to be in the labor force and less likely to have been referred for treatment by the criminal justice system than women admitted to substance abuse treatment with no psychiatric disorder. Additional research also has identified differences between women with co-occurring mental and substance use disorders and their male counter-parts.

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