Given the serious morbidity and costs of cocaine dependence, this study was designed to examine the relationship to severity of cocaine dependence of both specific comorbid psychiatric disorders and the added burden that may occur when multiple comorbid psychiatric disorders are present. Although the study’s focus was on psychiatric comorbidity and cocaine dependence, the presence of other substance dependence diagnoses also was assessed. Symptom severity and psychosocial impairment tend to be heightened with polysubstance dependence, as well as the risk of exposure to traumatic stressors, PTSD, and other psychiatric morbidity (Salgado et al., 2007). Therefore, it is important to distinguish between the effects of psychiatric versus SUD comorbidity when examining potential correlates of cocaine dependence severity.
