Women with schizophrenia and co-occurring substance use disorders: An increased risk for violent victimization and HIV

Women with serious mental illnesses are at risk for victimization and Hn! S chizophrenia related neurocognitive and social competency deficits exacerba ted by the effects of substance abuse may make women with schizophrenia par ticularly vulnerable, information processing deficits may impair the abilit y to identify situations or interpersonal cues signaling danger, and make i t difficult to remember and hence avoid, situations, people, or places prev iously proven dangerous. Social competency deficits interfere with the abil ity to form lasting relationships, negotiate out of dangerous situations, r efuse unreasonable requests, and effectively problem solve. Given the poten tial increased vulnerability of this population to these negative outcomes, empirically based manualized preventive interventions are greatly needed.