Multi-centre Study on Comorbid Mood Disorders among the Substance Abusers

Open Access

Abstract

Background: Drug misuse is a global problem often linked with mood disorders like depression, bipolar disorder, and dysthymia. Comorbidity makes diagnosis in substance users challenging. This study aims to find out the types of mood disorders in these substance abusers with complicacy arise with these comorbidities. Materials & Methods: This is a descriptive type of cross-sectional study which was conducted from 1 Oct 2025 to 31 Mar 2026 at the Central Drug Addiction Treatment and Rehabilitation Centre, Dhaka and the Department of Psychiatry, Combined Military Hospital, Dhaka. Two hundred patients were purposively sampled. Socio-demographic data were collected using a researcher-designed questionnaire, and mood disorders were assessed using SCID-I. The impact of mood disorders among substance abusers was interviewed by a panel of psychiatrists. After gathering the data, manual data cleaning and editing will be performed to prepare it for entry and analysis through the use of complex SPSS software version 16. This is a cross-sectional study. Result: Of those 200 cases, 59(29.5%) had major depressive disorder, 4 (2%) had dysthymia, 8 (4%) had a manic episode, and 1 (0.5%) had been diagnosed as hypomanic episode. 2 (1%) subjects had been diagnosed as cyclothymic disorder. Most commonly abused substances were opioids (33.34%) and cannabis (30.76%). Substance abusers with comorbid mood disorders have a prolonged and more severe course of illness. The majority (65%) was self-employed, and 35% were unemployed. Conclusions: Drug abuse is rising nationally, with frequent comorbid mood disorders increasing social burden. Accurate diagnosis and understanding of these conditions are essential for effective treatment and burden reduction.