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This page is an AI-assisted Turkish summary of the study presented at the 26th World Congress of Psychiatry. The study belongs to the presenting authors; please refer to the original source when citing it.

EV0015

Frequency and characteristics of substance-related presentations to emergency psychiatric services

FREQUENCY AND CHARACTERISTICS OF SUBSTANCE-USE RELATED VISITS IN EMERGENCY PSYCHIATRIC SERVICES

In 2025, 59.6% of 648 illicit substance-related emergency psychiatric presentations occurred at the general clinical psychiatry center, meaning that most of these patients were assessed in general emergency psychiatric settings rather than specialized addiction units.

The study aimed to determine the frequency of illicit substance-related emergency psychiatric presentations at the University Psychiatric Clinic Ljubljana and to compare their distribution across three emergency psychiatric service units. The background noted that substance use disorders are an increasingly common reason for emergency psychiatric assessment, with the availability of illicit substances, polysubstance use, and dual diagnosis adding to clinical complexity; presentations included intoxication, withdrawal, psychosis, suicidal ideation, behavioral problems, and severe psychosocial crises. The study used a retrospective observational design to review all illicit substance-related emergency psychiatric presentations recorded during 2025; patients were classified by service unit, and descriptive statistics were used. A total of 648 patients presented for emergency care related to illicit substances. Of these presentations, 386 (59.6%) occurred at the Center for Clinical Psychiatry, 201 (31.0%) at the Center for Mental Health, and 61 (9.4%) at the Center for Outpatient Treatment. Thus, most patients were treated in general psychiatric emergency settings. The authors stated that patterns of psychiatric emergency presentations are changing, that substance use disorders account for an increasing proportion of emergency psychiatric presentations, and that these patients need to be assessed in general emergency psychiatric services because of co-occurring psychiatric disorders. Resource allocation, collaboration between addiction services and general psychiatry, and integrated care pathways were recommended as service priorities.

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