Utility of the chemical use, abuse, and dependence scale in screening patients with severe mental illness

The Chemical Use, Abuse, and Dependence (CUAD) Scale was administered with other scales to 100 consecutive admissions to a psychiatric hospital. Moderately high correlations with other measures of drug and alcohol use were obtained. Although more research with the CUAD is necessary, it may be potentially useful in screening for substance use among severely mentally ill patients.