Psychiatric and social profile of recovering substance-dependent women

Objectives The objective of this article is to estimate the presence of psychiatric disorders among a group of recovering substance-dependents female patients and to assess the degree of social competence and support of the recovering substance-dependent women throughout the process of recovery. Patients and methods A total of 30 recovering substance-dependent women were selected as consecutive samples from private hospitals, private clinics, and private rehabilitation centers in Greater Cairo. Moreover, 30 controls were included who were nonsubstance-dependent volunteer women. All participants gave written consent and were subjected to the following interviews, assessments, and investigations: informed consent, Structured Clinical Interview for DSM axis I, Addiction Severity Index for cases, Social Support Questionnaire, Social Competence Scale, and urine sampling for cases. Results Most recovering substance-dependent women were single, mostly divorced, and unemployed. Benzodiazepines were the most common substance of abuse followed by opiates and alcohol. The period of sobriety was 6 months to 1 year in half of the cases. The addiction severity index revealed most cases had severe drug and alcohol use, severe psychiatric problems, and severe problems in their social relationships owing to drug dependence, and approximately half of the cases had severe medical and legal problems owing to drug dependence. Most of the recovering substance-dependent women showed low social competence and had limited to fair level of social support in their recovery. All recovering substance-dependent women had a psychiatric diagnosis. Major depressive disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder are the two most common psychiatric disorders found in recovering substance-dependent women. Conclusion There is a high prevalence of psychiatric disorders among recovering substance-dependent female patients. Their social competence is low, and they tend to have limited to fair social support throughout the process of recovery.