Psychiatric Comorbidity and Associated Professional Mental Health Utilization among Students in Recovery from...

This pilot study explores the additional psychiatric problems and their associated professional mental health utilization by students in recovery from addiction in collegiate recovery communities (CRCs) across the US South. The article has three goals: introduce CRCs to a broad medical audience; identify coexisting psychiatric concerns among students in CRC programs; and determine these students' type, rate, and location of professional mental health services.

During the 2014-2015 academic year, this study recruited participants through e-mail to all known CRC directors, who had the option of forwarding a survey link to its participants.

Fourteen percent of students in 13 known southern CRCs completed the survey. Seventy-four percent of them reported at least one coexisting psychiatric issue. The most common issue was depression, followed by anxiety. Other reported disorders included attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, eating disorder, bipolar disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, psychotic disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Most of the students in southern CRCs worked with psychiatrists and other therapists off-campus on their psychiatric problems.

This pilot study suggests that a significant number of students in southern CRCs have additional psychiatric problems that require professional mental health services.