Participant Mental Health Status - DSM-IV Diagnoses

Primary Diagnoses on AXIS I
Schizophrenia 31%
Schizoaffective 18%
Psychotic 3%
Depression 21%
Bipolar Disorder 16%
Dysthymia 2%
Substance Abuse 2%
Other 7%

Secondary Diagnoses on AXIS I
Substance Abuse 64%
Post-Traumatic Stress 5%
Mood Disorder 5%
Other 14%
None 12%

Transcript

On this slide, you see the diagnoses of the participants on the DSM-IV, across AXIS I, and you will see that a large proportion of individuals had an Axis I diagnosis that is typically associated with severe levels of disability. By this I mean a diagnosis in the schizophrenia spectrum, a diagnosis of major depression, or a diagnosis of bipolar disorder. Close to 90% of all the participants in the EIDP study had one of these diagnoses. Close to two-thirds of the participants had a co-occurring substance abuse disorder. This is very important, because it speaks to the need for substance abuse and addiction counseling as part of vocational rehabilitation efforts.

An examination of the participants’ psychiatric hospitalization histories, revealed that participants had an average of six hospitalizations over their lifetimes and had spent an average of 13 months hospitalized throughout their lifetimes.

There had been an average of 34 months, since client’s last hospitalizations, however, close to a quarter had been in the hospital within six months of their enrollment into the EIDP study. So, some of the participants had a very recent history of hospitalization. The large majority of study participants, 96%, were taking psycho tropic medications, and 43% were prescribed 3 or more medications. This speaks to the need for good relationships with psychiatrists and good medication management as part of vocational programs.

In terms of co-occurring disabilities/health conditions, forty percent had co-occurring disabilities or health conditions, and a fifth had 2 or more co-occurring physical or cognitive diagnoses such as learning disability, borderline or subnormal intelligence, head injury, seizure disorders, visual impairment, or a chronic medical condition. This is important because some programs tend to forget about physical health issues.