REVEALED: 50 PER CENT OF ALCOHOLICS AND DRUG ADDICTS ARE MENTALLY ILL

Half of all alcoholics and drug addicts are suffering from mental
health problems, including depression, and are self-medicating to
mask the symptoms.

Turning Point, a social care charity, is warning that people are
failing to get proper treatment because they are not being correctly
diagnosed. It believes that mental health problems are being
exacerbated by drug and alcohol misuse.

The problem of "dual diagnosis" is so acute that doctors' surgeries
and hospitals are to be given official guidance to help them to
identify people abusing drugs or alcohol who are also mentally ill.

Ministers have commissioned Turning Point to produce a good practice
guide for doctors and nurses to help them to identify people with the
symptoms of mental illness.

The move comes amid growing warnings from health-care experts that
more needs to be done to provide support for the record numbers of
Britons now suffering from depression and anxiety.

Figures released by the Government show that almost 13 million
working days are lost every year through people taking time off
because of stress, depression or other forms of mental illness.

Mental health problems are particularly common among homeless people
and the prison population. Seventy-nine per cent of men on remand who
use drugs also suffer from mental health disorders.

Lord Adebowale, the chief executive of Turning Point, said he was
concerned that the medical services were missing symptoms of mental
illness among drug and alcohol users.

"I would argue that the majority of drug addicts and alcoholics have
a mental health problem," he said.

Experts believe that many who are abusing alcohol and drugs are
unaware they are suffering from a form of mental illness.

According to the Royal College of Psychiatrists, approximately half
of those using drug and alcohol services have some form of mental
health problem, most commonly depression or personality disorder.

It is estimated that about one-third of psychiatric patients with
severe mental illness have a substance misuse problem.

Tim Loughton, the shadow Health Minister, said: "The correlation
between mental illness and alcohol abuse is very defined. Those who
are depressed may self-medicate with alcohol in order to relieve
their symptoms. Indeed, alcohol dependency is a type of mental
illness. But mental health treatment is currently the Cinderella of the NHS."

Another concern is the risk of suicide among people with mental
health problems. Marjorie Wallace, chief executive of the charity
Sane, asked: "Why are we sending people who have attempted suicide
back to their lonely flats with an outpatient appointment four weeks ahead?"