 There is abundant evidence that rates of comorbidity between substance use and depression are high 1, 2. The risk of poor outcome is higher among individuals with both substance use and mood disorders compared with those that have a single disorder 3, 4, 5, 6. Previous research has shown that about 50 of persons studied with severe mental illness and past substance abuse are likely to have a recurrence of substance abuse within 1 year of discharge from treatment 7. In a study to evaluate the effectiveness of the dual diagnosis treatment programme established in St Patricks Hospital in Dublin, it was discovered that 71.8 of patients achieved complete abstinence at 3 months and 55.8 at 6 months in the depression group8. 