Comorbidity of Addictive Disorders and Mental Disorders: Experience of a Hospital Women’s Psychiatry Department

Background: Problem substance use is a frequent reason for consultation. Whether isolated or co-morbid with another pathology, it remains important to manage within a dual framework. Objective: The objective of this work is to describe the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics and addictive behaviors of patients who were admitted to the psychiatric emergency department (women’s unit) of the Ar-Razi university psychiatric hospital from July 1 to September 30, 2021 as well as present the different comorbidities found in these patients. Method: A retrospective cross-sectional study on the files of 65 patients who were admitted to the psychiatric emergency department (women’s unit) for three months, using an evaluation sheet grouping together the sociodemographic criteria of the patients, addictive behaviors and psychiatric comorbidities. Results: The average age was 36.81 years. 52% of participants were single. Tobacco and cannabis are the most consumed substances in our sample. The psychiatric comorbidities found in our patients were as follows: schizophrenia (40%), schizoaffective disorder (26%), depression (17%), personality disorder (14%), bipolar I disorder (13%), acute psychotic disorder (3%), bipolar disorder type II (3%) and anxiety disorder (2%). Conclusion: To sum up, the most frequent addictive behaviors in this category of patients are: tobacco, cannabis, benzodiazepines and alcohol. Regarding psychiatric comorbidities, we note that psychosis, depression and bipolar disorders are the most frequent in our sample. These results should encourage all practitioners to have the reflex to look for possible addictive comorbidities in patients with psychiatric disorders for better patient care and prognosis.