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Targeting Trauma-related Interventions and Improving Outcomes for Women with Co-occurring Disorders

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Abstract

National attention to the effects of interpersonal trauma has led mental health systems to adopt policies on trauma-related services; however, there is a lack of clarity regarding targeting of these services. Data from the Women, Co-occurring Disorders and Violence Study (WCDVS) were reanalyzed by grouping women on their baseline PTSD and substance abuse presentation and assessing the differential response to an integrated mental health/substance abuse intervention. Treatment effects were largest for subgroups characterized by high levels of PTSD, whereas the effects for those in the low symptom group were near zero. These findings underscore the need for clinicians to conduct careful assessments of trauma-related symptoms and to target the most intensive trauma-related interventions to individuals with PTSD symptoms.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by MH019117 from the National Institute of Mental Health and the Guidance for Applicants (GFA) No. TI 00-003 entitled Cooperative Agreement to Study Women with Alcohol, Drug Abuse and Mental Health (ADM) Disorders who have Histories of Violence: Phase II from the Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration’s three centers: Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, Center for Mental Health Services, and Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (March, 2000). Portions of this paper were previously presented at the annual meeting of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies in Hollywood (November, 2006).

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  1. Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, CB 7590, 725 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Chapel Hill, NC, 27599-7590, USA

    Karen J. Cusack, Joseph P. Morrissey & Alan R. Ellis

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  1. Karen J. Cusack
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  2. Joseph P. Morrissey
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  3. Alan R. Ellis
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Correspondence to Karen J. Cusack.

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Cusack, K.J., Morrissey, J.P. & Ellis, A.R. Targeting Trauma-related Interventions and Improving Outcomes for Women with Co-occurring Disorders. Adm Policy Ment Health 35, 147–158 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10488-007-0150-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10488-007-0150-y

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