Am J Psychiatry 1992; 149:552-553
Copyright © 1992 by American Psychiatric Association
Past substance abuse and clinical course of schizophrenia
S Zisook, R Heaton, J Moranville, J Kuck, T Jernigan and D Braff
Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego.
To evaluate the effects of previous alcohol and drug use on the course and
symptoms of schizophrenia, the authors compared 34 patients with
schizophrenia who had histories of substance abuse with 17 patients with
schizophrenia who were lifelong abstainers. Surprisingly, they did not find
that individuals with past histories of abuse were more impaired or had
more symptoms.
