Rate of alcoholism diagnoses in community mental health centers: the effect of the presence of an alcoholism treatment program.

In this study, it was hypothesized that community mental health centers (CMHCs) with distinct alcoholism treatment programs (ATPs) would diagnose alcohol problems at a greater frequency than would centers without ATPs. It was also hypothesized that psychoses, personality disorders, and transient situational disturbances would be diagnosed more frequently in CMHCs without ATPs. Yearly diagnostic admission data from nine of Nebraska's CMHCs (four with ATPs, five without) were used. It was found that CMHCs with ATPs diagnosed significantly more alcohol problems than did CMHCs without ATPs (23.5% vs 4.2%). In addition, it was found that CMHCs with ATPs diagnosed significantly lower totals of transient situational disturbances than did CMHCs without ATPs. No differences were found between CMHCs on totals of other diagnostic categories. Practical implications and several alternative explanations for the findings are discussed.