History of sexual, emotional or physical abuse and psychiatric comorbidity in substance-dependent patients

• Abuse history is highly frequent among substance-dependent patients.
• Abuse history is more prevalent in women.
• Depression and borderline personality disorder are associated with abuse history.

Sexual, emotional or physical abuse history is a risk factor for mental disorders in addicted patients. However, the relationship between addiction and abuse lifespan is not well known. This study aims to compare clinical and psychopathological features of addicted patients according to the experience of abuse and to the number of different types of abuse suffered. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were conducted. 512 addicted patients seeking treatment were included, 45.9% reported abuse throughout life (38.9% emotional, 22.3% physical and 13.5% sexual abuse). It was found that female gender; depressive symptoms and borderline personality disorder were independently associated with history of any abuse throughout life. As well, it was found that 14% have been suffered from all three types of abuse (sexual, emotional and physical), 34.5% from two and 55.5% from one type. Female gender and borderline personality disorder were independently associated independently with a greater number of different types of abuse. Results suggest that history of abuse is frequent among substance-dependent patients and these experiences are more prevalent in women and are associated with more psychiatric comorbidity.