Differences between men and women in dual-diagnosis treatment

The authors reviewed the charts of all women and a randomly selected sample of men over a 6-month period on two addiction treatment units at Bellevue Hospital Center in New York. The men were more likely to be admitted with schizophrenia and to have used substances of abuse other than alcohol, and the women were more likely to be admitted with affective disorders. Also, the women on the dual-diagnosis ward were more likely to be domiciled (i.e., not homeless), and the women on both units were significantly more likely to report having been crime victims. These findings suggest that dually diagnosed women need a substantially different treatment paradigm from men.