Substance Use and Other Mental Health Disorders Among Veterans Returning to the Inner City: Prevalence, Correlates, and Rates of Unmet Treatment Need

Estimates of substance use and other mental health disorders of veterans (N = 269) who returned to predominantly low-income minority New York City neighborhoods between 2009 and 2012 are presented. Although prevalences of posttraumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, and depression clustered around 20%, the estimated prevalence rates of alcohol use disorder, drug use disorder, and substance use disorder were 28%, 18%, and 32%, respectively. Only about 40% of veterans with any diagnosed disorder received some form of treatment. For alcohol use disorder, the estimate of unmet treatment need was 84%, which is particularly worrisome given that excessive alcohol use was the greatest substance use problem.