in dual dx's, drug abuse trtmt reduces violence more than trtmt of mental illness

[dixiegrrrrl]

1. I do not see why they were "surprised" to see the results.

First of all, many people are misdiagnosed with a mental illness problem when what they have is a substance abuse problem.
and the most common mis-diagnoses, in my experience, has been bi-polar, a label given to people who were using crack cocaine.
Dual diagnosis was not even a "thing" until late 1980's, and not commonly accepted for years after that.

So I would like to see how their diagnosis' were made of the study subjects.

More basically, the use of cocaine or whiskey seemed to produce the most aggressive behavior, in my experience with patients and their families.
successful sub. abuse treatment often resulted in the absence of any "bi-polar " symptoms.

Sadly, a lot of people had to carry around a mis-placed Mental Health diagnosis after their substance abuse was no longer a factor.