Psychiatric morbidity and parental substance use disorder

Objective: To assess psychiatric morbidity associated with having no, one, or two parents with Substance Use Disorder (SUD), among patients receiving SUD care. Design: Two measures of psychiatric morbidity included (a) current psychopathology and (b) lifetime use of psychiatric treatment. Settings: Alcohol-drug treatment programs were located in two university medical centers. Subjects: Four hundred ninety-five voluntary patients aged 18 and older and non-adopted. Results: Parental SUD was directly related to (a) more current psychiatric symptoms, both self-rated and psychiatrist-rated and (b) greater likelihood of ever having ever received psychiatric treatment. Among those who had ever received psychiatric care, the number of psychotropic medications was related to parental SUD. Number of admissions, venues, visits/days, and cost of psychiatric care were not associated with parental SUD. Conclusions: Extent of parental SUD was related to increased psychiatric morbidity.