The study’s two hypotheses were that, among cocaine dependent adults, after controlling for the effects of demographics and lifetime history of co-occurring substance dependence diagnoses, a history of one or more psychiatric disorders would be associated with: (1) greater cocaine dependence severity, and (2) a higher likelihood of utilization of cocaine-related treatment and participation in SUD self-help groups. To the extent that psychiatric morbidity is associated with increased cocaine dependence severity (Hypothesis 1), the findings of Carpenter and colleagues (2002) suggest that psychiatric comorbidity may be associated with less treatment use. However, Trafton and colleagues’ (2006) specific finding of increased SUD treatment use by patients with PTSD, along with the generally positive association between psychological distress and SUD self-help participation support the hypothesis of a positive relationship between psychiatric comorbidity and SUD treatment or self-help utilization. The present study also extends the research literature on predictors of SUD treatment or self-help utilization by assessing utilization as a dichotomous variable, i.e., whether treatment or self-help were used at all, rather than the prior studies’ focus on the amount of treatment or self-help utilization. 2.
