Although several authors found a strong association between childhood trauma and substance abuse disorder, many other suggest that specific personological aspects and resilience may contribute to the development of this disease.

To compare the characteristics of psychiatric patients with and without dual diagnosis assessing differences in psychological correlates, such as resilience, coping strategies, self-esteem, temperament, character traits and childhood trauma.

From November 2015 to May 2016, we recruited all patients aged between 18 to 65 years referred to the Psychiatry Ward of “Maggiore della Carità” Hospital in Novara, Italy. Diagnosis of psychiatric disorder was made according to DSM-5 diagnostic criteria. Exclusion criteria were: inability to express a valid inform consent, a personality disorder or mental retardation diagnosis. We administered to each patient: Resilience Scale for Adult (RSA), Brief Cope, Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale (RSES), Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI). Patients were subdivided for the analysis into two groups: dual diagnosis and no dual diagnosis (or single diagnosis) group.

Data show that dual-diagnosis patients (n = 40) had lower global levels of resilience (RSA) and cooperativeness (TCI). Higher novelty seeking and reward dependence traits (TCI) were found as well. Moreover, the lower Cope-Avoidance (Brief Cope) was statistically different among patients with dual diagnosis compared to single diagnosis ones.

Identified differences between these two groups could suggest targets to manage during the treatments in order to optimise dual diagnosis patients’ outcomes.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.