Do substance abuse patients with more psychopathology receive more treatment?

The association between psychopathology at treatment entry and the amount of treatment services received was evaluated in 104 alcohol-dependent and 100 cocaine-dependent male veterans treated for 1 month in either a day hospital or inpatient program. Measures of psychopathology included the Addiction Severity Index psychiatric composite score, the presence or absence of an antisocial personality disorder diagnosis, and the total number of additional lifetime or current psychiatric diagnoses. Patients with higher admission Addiction Severity Index psychiatric composite scores received more medical, alcohol, family/social, and psychiatric services. There was also preliminary evidence that patients who received more treatment showed greater improvement 7 months after admission. The relationships between the other measures of psychopathology and treatment services failed to achieve overall statistical significance, although significant relationships were found in several individual areas.