New recreational drugs become available and impact on the prevalence of mental illness. The number of dual-diagnosis cases (co-occurring disorders including mental health and substance abuse problems) increases, increasing the complexity of cases and the need for secondary mental health service provision.

Proposed workforce impact

• Increased demand for a specialist psychiatry workforce working in collaboration with other specialties

Sources or references

 

• Weaver et al., (2003), Comorbidity of substance misuse and mental illness in community mental health and substance misuse services, The British Journal of Psychiatry, 183, 304-313
• Jeffrey et al., (2007), Psychosocial treatment programmes for people with both severe mental illness and substance misuse, The Cochrane Library
• Mitchell et al., (2009), quality of medical care for people with and without cormorbid mental illness and substance misuse: systematic review of comparative studies, The British Journal of Psychiatry, 194, 491-499

Additional research questions

• To what extent will services provide interventions to address substance misuse and mental illness?
• What is the role of third sector drug and alcohol centres, and how can they be better integrated with the NHS healthcare system?

Some of the information in this section is provided by stakeholders and expert groups, and does not necessarily represent the views of the CfWI.