INPATIENT TREATMENT OF PATIENTS WITH DUAL DIAGNOSES

Because of a nationwide lack of medical care of the increasing group o f patients with dual diagnoses in the Psychiatric Services of the Univ ersity of Berne in 1993, a ward was established for patients with ment al and substance disorders. The research concentrates on development, description, and evaluation of an inpatient transitional therapy betwe en crisis intervention and rehabilitation. The transitional therapy wa s integrative and considers both disorders. At the beginning, during t he treatment and 1 year after the treatment assessments (e.g., frequen cy of substance consumption, seriousness of psychopathology, subsisten ce) were completed to evaluate the transitional therapy The comparison between assessments at the beginning of treatment and 1 pear after th e treatment reveals that psychopathology decreased, housing and subsis tence improved, but substance abuse did not change. Only patients who frequently took substances before treatment consumed less at follow-up . During the treatment, schizophrenics with polysubstance abuse learne d better to consume no or less substances than patients with other dua l diagnoses (e.g., personality disorders and alcohol dependence) bur t hey cannot stabilize and generalize this progress for everyday life. A cute psychotic symptoms and high irritability of patients with other d ual diagnoses correlate with substance relapses during the treatment. These results refer to a possible interdependency of substance disorde rs and other mental disorders.