Co-Occurring Mental Disorders Among Incarcerated Women

Addressing Unmet Needs in Incarcerated Women With Co-occurring Disorders

“…Three fourths of this sample of nonviolent, substanceabusing women was diagnosed with PTSD (Salina et al, 2007), which highlights the needs for trauma-informed integrative treatment for incarcerated women. Many of these women reported to staff that they did not know what was "wrong" with them before treatment, that the disorder even had a name, or that it was related to their traumatic experiences.…”

“…For those agencies that are able to provide services, there is great variability in the types of services available and little documentation regarding the effectiveness of many of these community programs (SAMHSA, 2000). The lack of comprehensive and integrated mental health services and resources for both incarcerated and newly released women is well documented (Salina et al, 2007;Teplin et al, 1997).…”

“…Using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (research version; SCID-R; American Psychiatric Association, 1994), a rigorous diagnostic assessment instrument, almost 75% of the women were diagnosed with a primary diagnosis of PTSD (Salina et al, 2007). The symptoms of PTSD are pervasive and can interfere not only with other treatment services such as mental health and substance abuse treatment but also with a woman's ability to utilize services in the community and maintain a positive social support network.…”

“…In 2000, 1.3 million minor children (i.e., under the age of 18 years) had mothers detained in jail or prison (BJS, 2000a). Currently in the U.S. jail population, more than 80% of incarcerated women have at least one child (BJS, 1994(BJS, , 2000c; of women who have children, 47% have at least three or more (Salina et al, 2007;Teplin et al, 1996). Many women in jail are single parents and have the additional burden of providing basic necessities for their children, including safe housing, medical and child care, and other primary needs (Snell, 1993).…”

Rates of traumatization and psychopathology in criminal justice-involved women

“…Rates of psychopathology in women involved in the criminal justice system remain high (Glaze & Kaeble, 2014), and it is imperative to develop effective interventions to interrupt the cycle of recidivism among women with psychopathology. When left untreated, psychopathology is also linked to decreased adaptive functioning, increased substance use and abuse, and poor decision making (Constantine et al, 2010; Salina, Lesondak, Razzano, & Weilbaecher, 2007; Swendsen et al, 2010). …”