Dual Diagnosis within Italian prisons ‐ some preliminary data

Dual Diagnosis (DD) is a double pathology afflicting drug users that involves both addiction and psychiatric diseases. This specific condition is currently attracting attention from the scientific community. There are limited data available relating to this area and even less specifically relating to problematic drug use and addiction among prisoners and the general lack of adequate treatments and therapeutic tools that are required by this population. This study is divided into four phases, and this article discusses only the preliminary data. Each prisoner in the sample with addiction problems was subjected to an initial screening, and if the slightest element of DD was highlighted, the client was assessed with specific clinical tools (MMPI‐2, SCID II) and an interview with a psychiatrist. The data collected from the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI‐2) test highlighted that the most recurrent disorder in both of the sample prisons was borderline personality disorder with the majority of the subjects presenting personality disorders in axis II of the DSM‐IV TR, using the Structured Clinical Interview Diagnosis II (SCID II). The data gathered demonstrated that two‐thirds of the prisoners with addiction in these prisons suffer from a DD, and it is therefore important to distinguish the addiction from the psychiatric diagnoses and the DD condition in order to decide the specific treatment. This research suggests that in cases of Dual Diagnosis, both clinical conditions must be addressed, or there is a risk that these prisoners will only be partially treated, and this will create further difficulties in their rehabilitation.