Clayton Brown, PhD¹, Karen Wohlheiter, MS², Faith Dickerson, PhD, MPH³, LiJuan Fang, MS², Richard Goldberg, PhD⁴, Julie Kreyenbuhl, PharmD, PhD⁴, Seth Himelhoch, MD, MPH⁴, and Lisa B. Dixon, MD, MPH⁵. (1) Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, 660 West Redwood St., Howard Hall, Rm. 112, Baltimore, MD 21201, (410) 706-1058, cbrown@epi.umaryland.edu, (2) Psychiatry, University of Maryland, 685 W. Baltimore Street, MSTF BLDG, Room 300, Baltimore, MD 21201, (3) Sheppard Pratt Health System, 6501 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21204, (4) Psychiatry, University of Maryland School of Medicine, 685 West Baltimore Street, MSTF Building, Suite 300, Baltimore, MD 21201, (5) Department of Psychiatry, University of Maryland, 685 West Baltimore St., Suite 300, Baltimore, MD 21201

Several national surveys suggest that persons with depression are more likely to use complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) than persons in the general population but these surveys are limited by reliance on informal self-reported diagnoses or diagnostic screening by brief telephone interview. In our study, participants with established diagnoses of schizophrenia or affective disorders and receiving outpatient care, were randomly selected from two centers in Baltimore, Md. We compared the responses of the 191 patients with serious mental illness (SMI) to those of a demographically matched sample drawn from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS, 1998) public use data files on items regarding the use of CAM. Results indicate nearly a five-fold greater frequency of CAM use during the prior twelve months among affective disorder patients compared to the matched comparison group (26.6% versus 5.7%). In sharp contrast, there was no evidence of increased use among schizophrenia patients (8.3% versus 5.7%). In terms of specific CAM treatments, reported use of spiritual healing, herbal remedies, nutritional advice/diets, acupuncture, and meditation/relaxation techniques were all significantly higher among affective disorder patients than the comparison group, but their use of massage therapy was not increased. Within the SMI sample as a whole, CAM use was associated with female gender, a greater number of co-morbid medical conditions, and higher income. Our results confirm the relatively wide use of CAM among persons with affective disorders. Further research is needed to understand the perceived benefits of CAM when used in conjunction with formal psychiatric treatment.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the learner will be able to

(
• describe the frequency of use of complementary and alternative medicine in a sample of schizophrenia and affective disorder outpatients, (
• identify which CAM therapies are often used, and (
• identify likely correlates of CAM use in these populations.

Keywords: Mental Illness, Alternative Medicine/Therapies

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.