Dual diagnosis treatment
Dual diagnosis is a term used to describe people with mental illness who have coexisting problems with drugs or alcohol. The relationship between the two is complex, and the treatment of people with co-occurring substance abuse (or substance dependence) and mental illness is more complicated than the treatment of either condition alone, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
At Addiction Frontline, our primary goal aims for dual diagnosis treatment centers, in applicable situations. Insurance guidelines may interrupt this goal, but we will develop the best possible treatment plan with the available resources. Dual diagnosis treatment becomes the primary objective because it offers the best opportunity for effective recovery, in cases of co-occuring substance abuse and mental illness.
Dual diagnosis treatment addresses comorbidity, the co-occurring infliction of a disease and one or more disorders. For this article, the disease refers to addiction and the disorders refer to mental disorders, including psychiatric and behavioral.
Substance abuse can represent an observable manifestation of an issue more complex than addiction alone. Dual diagnosis treatment places addiction on the mental illness spectrum, tailoring treatment for synergetic recovery plans.
“Dual Diagnosis treatment is a relatively new innovation in the field of addiction recovery,” Foundations Recovery Network states. “Until the 1990s, people who were experiencing symptoms of a mental health disorder were treated separately from those who sought help for drug or alcohol abuse.”
A person in addiction recovery has a greater chance of relapse if a mental illness looms. The two, or more, dependent illnesses require medical attention for effective recovery. If a person suffering from addiction and depression receives only addiction treatment, then the person will sink into despair, despite abstaining from narcotics. Consider a person with a general anxiety disorder and high blood pressure. HBP medication does not treat the root anxiety problem, and the medication’s effectiveness might wane over time if the anxiety continues without treatment.
The dependent illnesses intrinsically complicate treatment. A person’s anxiety disorder may produce apprehension to 12-step meetings or talking to a psychologist. A depression sufferer may use the addiction to escape pain, while another person in a deeper depression knowingly uses addiction to self-inflict pain.
“When your thoughts and perceptions are altered by mental illness, it’s easy to neglect your own care,” FRN states. “The symptoms of mental illness can be so disturbing that alcohol or drug abuse may seem like the only way to cope.”
The relationship between mental disorders and the addiction disease vary. In some cases, substance abuse causes the mental disorders. In other cases, the substance abuse triggers a preexisting mental disorder. Other cases involve patients abusing drugs to cope with a mental illness, but the patients do not actually have a true motivated addiction. A one-size-fits-all treatment does not exist.
The fields of neurology and psychiatry continue to break ground in developing optimal treatment strategies. Comorbidity creates treatment hurdles, but co-occurring addiction and mental illness are treatable. Despite the complexity, a person can manage the disease and disorders while living a full, meaningful life.