Alcohol and substance-induced disorder treatment cases in mental health and addiction treatment facilities from 2013 to 2022: A descriptive study

Substance use disorders may arise when individuals use substances to cope with adverse mental health symptoms. Conversely, mental health symptoms can develop because of substance use, a category of conditions called substance-induced disorders. This study used two United States-based datasets, the Mental Health Client-Level Data and the Treatment Episode Data Set Admissions, to summarize the number of cases with “alcohol-induced disorders” and “substance-induced disorders” from both mental health and substance use disorder treatment programs from 2013 to 2022. The primary study aim was to identify the percentage of cases with alcohol-induced disorders or substance-induced disorders in these treatment settings. Among all mental health disorder treatment cases, those with an alcohol or substance-induced disorder totaled N = 439,932, making up 0.7% of total cases over the analytic period. During the same period, alcohol or substance-induced disorders totaled N = 459,817, accounting for approximately 2.7% of all substance use disorder treatment cases. The majority (79%) of cases with an alcohol-induced disorder in substance use disorder treatment were identified as reporting alcohol use, with 68% having alcohol listed as their primary substance. Heroin and other opiates and synthetics accounted for the primary substance among 28.8% of cases with a substance-induced disorder in the substance use disorder treatment data. Approximately 1 in 3 cases with an alcohol-induced disorder and 1 in 4 cases with a substance-induced disorder had a depressive disorder diagnosis in mental health treatment. When considering the primary diagnosis, approximately 1 in 4 cases with an alcohol-induced disorder and 15% of cases with a substance-induced disorder had a depressive disorder as the primary diagnosis in mental health treatment. Substance-induced disorders are a significant public health concern, and more research is needed to better understand the clinical needs of this population.